Days in the Life of a Brainbot
by FantasyBard
Summary: The movie we all know and love, plus a few extras, told through the googly, eletronic eye sensors of Megamind's very own robotic servants.
1. One

So, I saw Megamind, and I was actually pretty surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I figured it would jut be one of those random movies which made me chuckle and that I would forget about after one viewing. Instead, after three times of seeing it in theaters, I love it as much as ever, and am considering writing stories for it. And this is hopefully the first. It's sort of a lighthearted piece, centering around te adorable little robots that assist Megamind in all of his epic schemes (and subsequent failures). I really liked the brainbots, and so I got to wondering what might have been going through some of their minds during the movie. So, I came up with this. I hope that you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Megamind, the movie, the story , or any of it's characters. I am merely making this for my own pleasure and the pleasure of anyone who cares to read. I am making no profit on this whatsoever, so please do not come and sue me Dreamworks.

Prologue:

My name is #147. I know, catchy name, right? You might think that my name being a mere number, my name may not mean all that much. But it's the only name I've ever known. And to be perfectly accurate, though it may be a number, it does actually mean something. I was the 147th brainbot made by Master. It may not mean much, but when you've lived with for as long as I have, you learn to become attached to it.

Anyway, it's not normal to see a robot like me telling the story, especially a seemingly mass-produced robot such as myself. It's normally the hero of the piece who gets the spotlight, or the villain, or the damsel in distress, or occasionally, the side-kick.

Thing it, there's a lot more to being a brainbot than might at first appear. Yeah, there are a lot of us, and yeah, we do all kind of look alike. And maybe no one could tell us apart on first, second, or even third glance. But, among us brainbots, we're as different as anyone else.

We may have started out that way, but according to 1, Master got bored one day with just remaking the same robot over and over and created personality subroutines. He only created a certain number at first, but the more of us he created, the more the subroutines began to mutate and the more variety began to grow out of them. Now, we're all pretty much unique in our own special ways. Some of us are better at certain things then others, and some if us, well, some of us never really learn at all.

We're not exactly human. Minion is closer to that then us, but still, 1 has always said that we're the closest thing to family our Master had ever had.

Everyone knows my Master, of course: Megamind, Incredibly Handsome Criminal Genius and Master of All Villainy (until recently, but I'll get to that in a minute). For years, he used us as weapons, spies, distractions, mechanics and about a hundred different other things in his battles against his arch-nemesis, Metro Man, Defender of Metro City.

It's actually not bad having a Master like Megamind. Sure, there are the minor inconveniences of being blown to bits or melted by Metro Man's laser vision. But, I doubt that anyone else would care enough about us brainbots to even bother to bring us back. Megamind, though, he's recreated each and every one of us, every time we have been destroyed. I myself have been blown up twice, melted four times, smashed by a car and crushed by a slab of concrete. But, I'm always brought back. The body might be different, but the memories and my personality are always the same.

It's a good life. Megamind and Minion are always there looking out for us, there's always a spare tool or two to play with or a game of tag to join in, the occasional in-depth discussion on how our badly our Master will fail in his next scheme and just the chance to sit back and watch life play out. And when your creator is a master genius engaged in a never-ending struggle for supremacy with a superhero, it means there's never a dull moment.

And the thing about being a brainbot, we see a lot more than perhaps a lot of people give us credit for. And if it hadn't been for us, Megamind's story could have ended very differently.

So, this is the story that probably you know, but told from the point of view of me, Brainbot 147. Still with me? All right, then, here we go.

* * *

So, that is the prologue, I hope that it peaks your interest. I am sort of basing it off the idea that Megamind treats the brainbots sort of like pets. I mean, he sure seems to attached to them in the movie. And let's face it, pets are oftentimes a lot more observant and smarter than people give them credit for. So, if the brainbots start to exhibit the characteristics of certain dog breeds, don't get surprised.

Please, read and review. I would love to hear what you think.


	2. Two

Wow! I was so surprised by how many people have reviewed and favorited this story. It's really inspiring. Hope you like thisnext chapter. In it, we meet a few more characters wwho will play a pivotal role in the coming action. Enjoy!

One:

It all began with the ending, which was also a beginning. That's a little confusing, isn't it? But, I think it will make sense once I explain it better. See, Megamind and Metro Man had been battling it out for years. We brain bots were oftentimes at the forefront of Master's schemes, and I can modestly say if not for us, all of Megamind's plans would have ended up as failures. Well, okay, they were all pretty much failures; then again, if not for us, they would have been catastrophes. If there's anything this whole experience has taught me, it's that there is a difference between those two ideas. Catastrophe is basically no holds barred destruction and humiliation, but failure means you can pick yourself up and try again.

And these battles had been going on for so long, it just seemed like they would never end. But when Megamind actually managed to defeat Metro Man, that turned out to be as close to catastrophe as Master would ever come.

Anyway, it all started on a seemingly typical day. Megamind had been in prison for a couple of weeks. Nearly all of his encounters with Metro Man ended with Master getting carted off to prison. So, that meant that he would probably be escaping any day. That was the order we had gotten used too.

When I woke up, a few of the brain bots were already up and floating around. I waited for a few minutes, shaking the early morning sparks out of my glass-domed head (it's not technically glass, actually. That would be easy to break, but glass is easy to comprehend then diabonic, crystalline, electro-magnetic computer shell. The concept is still the same). I then floated out into the Evil lair's vast main room. The Lair was the place where Megamind lived and created all of his dastardly machines of mayhem and plots of destruction. It was an old abandoned warehouse along the docks. It was cluttered with machines, tools and pieces of paper hung with multiple strands of thread from the ceiling. Also, there were a lot of TV monitors. Even with Megamind now gone, they were all pretty active. All the brain bots had their favorite shows, and before Megamind started making spare remotes and TV sets for us all, the constant squabbles for the remote amongst us could get a little hairy.

A few of the brain bots and I exchanged the normal morning greetings as we passed each other, some of them engaged in their early morning routines. 457, 89, and 13 were all chewing on various rubber tubes (they said they preferred the texture to the metal of the tools for come reason), 24 and 67 were engaged in an early morning game of chess, and probably the set had been stolen at some point during one of Megamind's escapades. Don't think just because we're robots, we don't have lives. I know brain bots who were often times much smarter then some people.

I floated up to the TV monitors, which were unusually silent that morning, with only brain bot hovering near the screens. He had the remote in his tendril-like clawed hand. It was 238, and he was flipping randomly through the channels. "Morning, 238."

"Hey, 147."

"Anything good on?"

"There's supposed to be a six-hour special on the construction of the Metro Man Museum somewhere on these channels, but I can't find it anywhere."

238 had somehow developed an interest in architecture during his lifetime. It was beyond me how that trait managed to sneak into the cross-sectioning of his nano-wires. I think it has something to do with the fact that he is one of the most mathematical of the brain bots, and Megamind always uses him when working out the best way to constructing the more intricate of his inventions.

I, on the other hand, while I was normally willing to listen to what he had to say about architecture, yet he had lost me with the name of Metro Man. "Six hours?" I questioned, "Just for the construction of a museum for that flying tube of toothpaste? Honestly, can't the people of Metro City find something that doesn't have to do with him for one second?"

"Good luck trying to get that idea across, 147. I'm not interested for the sake of Metro Man, but seriously, the blue prints of the place are wicked. I just wish I could see inside it, just for the sake of looking at it closely once."

"Too bad the only view you'll be getting is from the outside." Said the voice of another brain bot that came hovering over to join us, "You know how the denizens of the city react when they see one of us, they figure Megamind can't be far behind and they start panicking."

It was 56, one of those brain bots among us who seems to really have inherited a lot of our creators' personal idiosyncrasies. That's been both a blessing a curse. Actually, 56 is my best friend. Still, that doesn't change the fact that he can get me so worked up that it feels like my wiring is about to go up in smoke.

However, for this one moment, we were in agreement over one thing. "Only fitting, considering we are the servants of a super villain."

"Of course, that doesn't stop some of us from pushing the boundaries, a little." Said 56, in the old voice I knew very well, he was angling for a confrontation. Yes, 56 and I often fought, but it was mostly all in good fun.

Since I was feeling in a giving mood that morning, I decided to play along. I knew perfectly well to what 56 was referring too, but that didn't mean I had to let onto it right away. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about, 56."

"Only that someone sneaked into the Metro City Museum of Art a few months ago when they had the exhibition of Metro Man paintings. Honestly, I thought that you had better taste than that, 147."

"Well, it just so happens that the touring exhibit of the Monet's was there at the same time, 56." I said, sweetly, "I went to look at those. You honestly think I would waste me time looking at a painting of Metro Man that supposedly could have painted from the point of view of Picasso. I got a view of that online for to seconds and I still get nightmares about it."

That seemed to throw 56 for a moment, but not for long. "Well, it still doesn't change the fact that you broke the rules."

"Last time I checked, you weren't exactly an expert on following the rules. I'm not the one who sometimes tries to go over to Metro Stadium to catch a random baseball game."

"How did you know I did that?"

"I didn't actually, I just suspected it pretty strongly, and you've just confirmed it."

"I haven't confirmed anything, or denied anything." Said 56, in the voice that sounded for the entire world like a copy of our Master. Don't ever say the creation never resembled the Master even a little. "Besides, what are you going to do about it?"

"Oh, I was thinking maybe this." I zipped forward and whacked him on the glass dome of his head. He reeled back a few feet and then seemed to recover his equilibrium and came at me, ramming me with his body.

That seemed to take care of it. 56 and I began to chase each other around and around the Evil Lair, calling out insults to each other along the way. It was a normal sight to see the two of us having chases like this, though whether it was from mere fun or some sort of argument we had before, was always changing.

On our third lap around the room, some of the brain bots started noticing the show and began cheering one or the other of us on. At this point, it became less of a serious chase and more of a game for the benefit of getting attention. We were pretty evenly matched when it came to speed and these chases always turned into something of a spectacle.

On our sixth time around the Lair, the door suddenly opened and in came another brain bot and a creature that was somewhat bizarre at first appearance. He had a large robotic body that resembled a saggy gorilla. But his head was a bowl filled with water. Inside the water was a fish. This was Minion, Megamind's right hand man, well, fish, I suppose. He had known our Master before any of us were even a glimmer in his creative mind. The two were practically inseparable, which was actually a good thing. Considering the number of failures Megamind had gone through and how many times he had wound up in jail, he needed someone to watch his back.

Also, from what I've observed of the world, it's a better gig being the side-kick to the hero then it is to be one for the hero. Side-kicks to heroes always get the blame for the mistakes that are made; side-kicks to the villains always mange to avoid that fate.

Minion was a great favorite with the brain bots. If not for him when Megamind is in jail, we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves. Of course, even he can sometimes have trouble controlling us.

56 immediately made a beeline for Minion and, of course, I gave chase. Minion hadn't seen us, and he had just said in his usually cheerful and sunny voice, "Good morning, brain bots. Gather around. I have-"

He didn't get any further, because 56 ducked around and behind him, using the bulk of Minion's body as a shield between him and me.

"Come out, you miserable bucket of bolts!" I snapped, as I angled crazily, trying to catch him unawares, but every move I made he did the opposite behind Minion, meaning that poor Minion was literally turning around in circles trying to keep up with us.

"Ha! You're one to talk." Shot back 56, "You can barely hold together. You might as well be made of plastic."

"Let me get my teeth around one of your tendrils and we'll see whose made of plastic, and cheap plastic at that."

"Oh, I'm shaking right down to my nerons. Come on, 147, you bite like a programmed member of the female sex."

"I _am_ a programmed member of the female sex, Dipstick, and you'll soon see that's nothing to laugh at."

"All right, you two, that's enough." 1's stern voice brought an end to our game of wits. "56, come out from behind Minion, and the two of you stop fighting, we have more important things to speak of."

If Megamind could be called out father (and we always have considered him to be our daddy), than 1 would win the prize for our mother. She was the first brain bot that Megamind ever created, so she's been around longer than any of us. She's been through more and been destroyed more than any of us and she's the one who understands Megamind best. She's the voice of experience, so we differ to her judgment in almost everything.

Thus, when we heard her voice, 56 and I and sulkily fell in line.

Minion tut-tutted and shook his head like a reproving nurse, "147 and 56, I might have known it would be you two trying to cause trouble on a day like this. Still, no harm done, as usual. Now, tell each other you're sorry and let's leave it all behind us."

"But she started it."

"But he started it." We both whined at pretty much the same moment.

"I don't care who started it." said 1, "Make up and be friends again. I know it's not hard for you."

A moment of silence before 56 said, "All right, I'm sorry."

"I guess I'm sorry too." I replied.

Our electronic chirps, however sullen they might have been, were enough to reassure Minion. "Wonderful, we're all back in harmony again. Now, come on, brain bots, over here, I have some important things to tell you."

1 made a motion that looked like an exasperated mother shaking her head, but there was an undertone of affection in her voice. "Double trouble, that's what you two are. One of you is just as bad as the other. I don't know which is worse, the two of you separate or the two of you together." She floated over to where the other brain bots were starting to gather around Minion.

"Was that a dig?" I asked, as 56 and I followed at a distance.

"Probably, we do kind of have something of a reputation for getting into trouble."

"True, I guess. And I suppose we could get into a long argument about who's caused more trouble, but I think we have more important things to worry about."

"Yeah, let's worry about breaking Daddy out of jail first, and then we can argue."

"I'll make a note of that."

We fell into line along with the rest of the brainbots, who had gathered around Minion by this time. We were all blinking and sparking excitedly. We sensed that something was about to happen which would bring about a change in our daily lives.

"Brain bots, I have good news. Daddy is going to be escaping from jail today."

A chorus of excited, electronic barking greeted this announcement. It's not that we brain bots every worried about him getting out. More that when he was getting out, that meant that their were at least two or three diabolical plans in the works, which meant soon there would be no end of things to do for us brain bots, as well as a front row seat to the colossal battles which he would be undertaking with Metro Man.

"Special thanks go to brain bot 238for this rescue." Minion continued, "He was the one who fine-tuned the holowatch which will aid in the escape today."

A round of appreciative electronic beeps greeted this announcement. 238 ducked his head modestly. "Oh, it was nothing, really."

I nudged him playfully. "You know, you are really are to humble, sometimes." I told him. "Master knows how great you are with such things. I doubt anyone else could have repaired that watch so fast and made it look classy at the same time."

"Actually, I had some help with that from 125."

"125? The one who's in charge of making all the machines look dashingly evil enough?"

238 didn't answer me. I noticed that his eye stalk had shifted and was staring dreamily at 125, a brainbot a little ways of from him. 125 noticed that he was looking her and waved at him cheerfully. "Hi, 238, watch for me, later. I'm going to be part of the grand entrance."

"You bet, 512, er, uh, I mean 125. I'll be watching. You can count on me."

"Oh, I didn't realize that you two were a thing." I said

"She's so perfect." Said 238, who evidently hadn't heard me, "The way she moves, the way she works on the finer points of the machines, the way the sun and moon lights up her dome…"

Knowing that I wouldn't be getting anything coherent out of 238 for awhile, I turned my full attention back to what Minion was saying. "Now, we obviously have a lot to get through today. Is everything ready for the death ray?" Affirmative chirps answered this. "The trap at the old abandoned observatory?" More chirps. "Wonderful. You're all good brain bots and I'm sure daddy will be very pleased with you all."

We all felt rather pleased with ourselves, too. We had the best daddy and master in the world. "Now, you all know you're places. One last assignment, 56," 56 eagerly hovered over to him, "I need you to locate Roxanne Ritchie and transmit the coordinates to me. Try to be discreet about it. Master has an especially evil entrance planned for later today. He doesn't want anything to spoil it."

"Will do." said 56, even if Minion didn't exactly understand what he was saying, and he hovered off.

For the rest of us, it seemed like it was going to be a very exciting morning in our lives as brain bots to Megamind. It would be exciting all right, way more than even we could have imagined.

* * *

Please, read and review.


	3. Three

Two:

A few hours after, we brain bots were in a tizzy of excitement. We could sense that show time was fast approaching. Once Minion left in the invisible car to pick up Master, we brain bots set about taking care of the last minute details for Megamind's plan.

A group of brain bots were already off and away somewhere in Metro City, in disguise, of course. They were all part of Megamind's grand entrance. Presentation was an incredibly important to Megamind. No self-respecting villain could call himself even remotely evil if he didn't have it. I had to admit, that was one thing that Megamind always managed to succeed at.

238 had retreated back to the television monitors, making good on his promise to not even risk missing 125's role in this latest escapade. It suddenly all made sense why he had been going around with those few extra sparks in his dome and why 125 was taking extra care with keeping the rust off her tendrils. Yes, we brain bots do have feelings which correspond to love. It's slightly different from the way humans experience it, but the basic concept of being devoted to someone is still the same. It was something I had honestly never experienced or even really thought of, but I suppose that if it could happen to 238 or 125, it might happen to me one day.

However, there were more important things to worry about. By this time, the TV monitors were buzzing with all the various stations covering the opening of the grand opening of the Metro Man Museum. One particular channel was playing more than the rest, KCMP Channel 8 news. It was a favorite with Master; he seemed to be watching the news program on that channel quite a lot late. None of us brain bots were sure why he choose that particular station when he could have gotten minute details on his exploits on any other channel.

We brain bots weren't complaining, though. We had started to enjoy that channel more than the others as well. Our favorite reporter, Roxanne Ritchi, was on that channel. We liked her, not the least of which was because Master was always kidnapping her. Secretly, all of the brain bots liked it when Roxanne was kidnapped; it was our favorite part of our Master being the villain. She was always a lot of fun to have around, which was a little ironic. If she was always being kidnapped, she should have a permanent case of nerves.

But she had quickly come to understand quickly in the course of the game between hero and villain that Master wouldn't hurt her. Now, it was mostly just fun watching the amusing back and forth between Master and Roxanne. Besides Minion, she was the only one who really was a match for Megamind. Their witty sallies back and forth were more fun than the ones he had with Metro Man.

We finally managed to find a report with Roxanne. She had really dressed up for the occasion, almost as if she _expected_ to be kidnapped.

"Happy Metro Man Day, Metro City. It's a beautiful day here in beautiful down town, where we're here to honor a beautiful man, Metro Man. His heart is an ocean inside of a bigger ocean. For years, he's been watching out for us with his super sight, protecting us with his super strength and caring for us with his super heart, now it's our turn to give something back. This is Roxanne Ritchi, reporting live from the grand opening of the Metro Man Museum."

The station went to a commercial. 32, a brain bot who been passing by while they were watching the report, said, "Ugh, some of the things they say about Metro Man, if I had a stomach, I would be retching right now."

"Hey," I said, "cut the poor girl some clack. It's not like she has a lot of actual original materiel to work with. Metro Man is only inspiring up to a point, and that is a very small margin."

"Yeah, it's not her fault that she gets stuck with all the Metro Man stories. They probably think that just because she gets kidnapped and rescued all the time, she had some sort of inside access to the whole story." Said 238, "She's probably just as bored as anyone else with the whole process."

32 sniffed and floated off. We watched her go. "There's not a sentimental nano in that girl's body is there?" I complained.

"Comes from the fact that she is obsessive-compulsive, or whatever its robotic equivalent is." said 238, he then looked up and said, "Oh, look 56 is back."

Indeed, 56 had just come floating back into the Evil Lair, looking rather pleased with himself. "Hey there, guys." He said, "Roxanne Ritchi will not be reporting live from anywhere for awhile. Unless it's going to be from Master's Lair,"

"Yes, yes, in the grip of one of his evil plans of death." I finished, "Come on, 56, we all know that Daddy won't hurt Roxanne."

"Of course, we all know that, but we can't have anyone else thinking that." said 56, "We have to keep up with the premise that Daddy is a black-hearted villain."

"A good first step towards maintaining that image might be to not call him Daddy on the morning of a major diabolical plan." Said 238, "The assumption of a parental figure title will kind of tarnish the whole black-hearted villain thing."

"Look, does it really matter?" I asked, "We all know how this is going to end, Megamind and Metro Man will bash it out, there will be a whole bunch of pyrotechnics, fireworks and explosions, where no one really gets hurt-"

"Except for the occasional witty sally that hits homes." Put in 56.

"Yes, except for that. But, Megamind will lose and will either escape or be carted off to jail by Metro Man, he'll escape and we'll go through this all again. It's the order of the universe and the circle of life."

"Still, we brain bots have to play our role." Said 56, "When do you think that he'll get here?"

"Well, when we factor in that Roxanne was reporting from downtown at the Metro Man Museum and that he'll then be going to the prison, and then he'll come back here, and factor in traffic, speed on the invisible car and road conditions," said 238, clicking and factoring away as he did whenever he got in a mathematical mood, "And considering the road to tire traffic conditions and…"

"238," said 56, "I am sure that this is fascinating, but could you skip the math book portion and go right to the answer."

22 minutes, 36 seconds."

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"I just do." said 238.

Exactly 22 minutes and 36 seconds later, there was a great chorus of excited barking a crowd of brain bots rushed into the main Lair. They were of the younger crowd, either created more recently than any of us, or not having been as destroyed as many times. For brain bots, being destroyed and reborn into different bodies actually facilitates growth in our personalities. Of course, some of us are still are more brawn then brain and never learn, no matter what happens. They were more easily excited and distracted. But, the news they had caused all of us to revert back to something like first activation.

"Hey, everyone, he's back, he's back, Daddy's back!" chorused a dozen different voices at once.

Excitement rippled through us all and we immediately left whatever we were doing and began to gather. A moment later, the doors to the lair opened and there was a loud roar of engines and the invisible car zoomed in to the Evil Lair. It pulled to a stop and out stepped the alien who had created all of us, none other then Megamind himself.

He was still dressed in the orange prison outfit which 125 had often commented clashed horribly with his blue skin. It wasn't just for the sake of his sinister image that he always wore black.

"Oh, I tell you, Minion," he was speaking to his friend as he looked around the Lair fondly, "There's no place Evil Lair."

Minion was carrying Roxanne Ritchi slung over his shoulder (unconscious and bound). "I've kept the Lair dark and damp, just for you, sir."

Megamind stepped out from behind a screen, now attired in properly evil black leather, spikes and cape. "How do I look, Minion? Do I look evil?"

"Disgustingly horrifying, sir." Complemented Minion, helpfully.

"You always know what to say."

Now that he was properly dressed, we brain bots came swarming around Megamind, chirping and barking electronically, while our domes were sparking excitedly. "Oh, the brain bots missed you, sir." Said Minion.

Megamind's face lit up with an almost childlike excitement and he got right up close to all of the brain bots. "Did you miss daddy?" We all chirped and bounced up and down excitedly. Megamind was the opposite of a super villain when he was with us, and more like the doting and proud parent. He was obviously happy to see each and every one of us again, even while playfully admonishing the more dim-witted of our number to not bite. If only those who were afraid of Megamind could have seen him at that moment, they would have perhaps seen that they had nothing to be afraid of.

One of the brain bots had a wrench clutched in his mouth, which he dropped in Megamind's hand. "You want the wrench? Huh, you want it?" Megamind threw the wrench. "Get the wrench!"

"Wrench, wrench, wrench." Repeated the brain bots who were obsessed with playing games of fetch in their off hours and immediately sped off after it.

With another fond look in their direction, Megamind and Minion then went back to their nefarious plotting, which at this stage involved large amounts of evil laughter. According to 1, Megamind had practiced on his evil laughter early in his career, just so he could get it the right level of terrifyingness. Now, he did it without even thinking. Myself and a few other brain bots who had been programmed to be carriers lifted the two of them up to the fake observatory, what Megamind had said earlier would be the grand stage of his greatest evil plan yet. Considering that he said that about every evil plan he got, we were all excited to see how this one would rank with the others.

56 and 238 had followed us, eager not to miss the party, and the three of us took our places above them, eagerly watching everything that played out.

It was at this point that Roxanne began to stir. From inside the bag which was covering her face, she began to make sounds of surprise and indignation, and she began wriggling in Minion's grasp.

"She's awake." Cried Megamind, excitedly, "Quickly, places."

Minion placed Roxanne in the chair at the center of the room, while Megamind scurried over to his leather chair (properly black, sinister and accessorized with spikes); he took a few moments to make himself presentable and just a little more terrifying. One of the brain bots, 14, curiously had come over to see what it was Daddy was doing. Megamind looked at him briefly, and then took the brain bot in his lap. Something he had seen in the old movies of classic villains had apparently convinced that he needed some sort of pet in his lap when he was confronting his helpless and terrified victims. However, in the face of any actual animals, we brain bots were as good as anything else.

"Was it a good idea to pick 14 as the lap bot?" asked 238, "He has kind of a tendency to bite unexpectedly."

"It will just make it a better show." Said 56.

"Besides, no good trying to warn him now. Be quiet, you two, the show is about to start." They both got the message and shut up and we leaned forward eagerly.

Minion knew the signal, and withdrew the bag from Roxanne's head. Roxanne gasped for breath, a look of disgust evident on her face. Megamind turned around in his chair to face her, an evil smirk on his face, as he stroked 14'sglass dome. "Miss Ritchi," he said, with evil smoothness, "we meet again."

Roxanne, for her part, was unphased. "Would it kill you to wash the bag?" she asked, in an exasperated tone, hardly the voice of a frightened captive.

Megamind seemed completely unmindful of this. "You can scream all you wish, Miss Ritchi. I'm afraid no one can hear you." He held one hand up to his ear, listening for Roxanne's screams. She just looked at him with an expression of skeptical amusement, and unsurprisingly, didn't so much as whimper. Megamind seemed utterly confused by this. "Why isn't she screaming?" he asked Minion, as if his robotic side-kick would have had the answer.

Since Minion was always trying to make everyone happy, he said to Miss Ritchi, rather politely, "Miss Ritchi, if you don't mind?"

"That is true." commented 56, "One little scream wouldn't hurt anything. And it would make Daddy a whole lot happier."

"I don't think Roxanne would want to even give the hint of satisfaction." I said.

Megamind apparently hadn't considered this option and so. "Like this." He said, "Ahhhh! But that's a poor lady's scream."

So enthused had Megamind been in his demonstration that he had forgotten about the brain bot in hip lap. 14, having been startled, suddenly saw Megamind's hand, wrapped in leather. Being one of those who preferred rubber and leather to regular metal tools and being rather random under the best of circumstances, it was inevitable what would be happening next.

"Hand! Leather!

CHOMP!

"AHHHHIIIIIIEEEGGHHHH!"

Whatever dignity Megamind had wanted to maintain kind of fell apart when 14 bit down on his hand. Megamind was suddenly struggling, jumping up and down in his chair and failing about trying to get 14 off of his hand, and generally looking rather foolish all at the same time.

The three of us winced. "Boy, that's going to leave a mark." Said 56.

"And earn 14 a few days of being off-line." Said 238.

"Before Megamind forgives the entire incident and we'll all be one happy family again." I finished. "I'm so glad Megamind is our Master."

"Me too." Agreed 56 and 238 together.

Roxanne apparently rather enjoyed the impromptu entertainment. "That's a little better." She dryly commented referring to Megamind's girlish scream a few seconds before. While Megamind was still struggling with trying to get the brain bot off his hand, she looked around her at the equipment which was surrounding the room. "Is there some kind of nerdy super villain website where you get Telsa Coils and blinky dials?"

Minion, ever the one to be helpful and make small talk effortlessly, said with a big grin, "Actually, most of it comes from an outlet store in…"

"Don't answer that!" said Megamind, warningly, the brain bot which was still hanging off of his arm apparently forgotten.

There was a moment of uncertain silence, before Minion whispered out the side of his mouth, "Romania."

238 looked at me. "I thought this stuff came from eBay?"

"No, that was the materiel for the Equestinator of Doom. But after that miserable failure, Master swore he would never get anything off eBay again."

Megamind was preoccupied with trying to get Minion to be quiet. "Don't! Stop!" he pushed his chair over to Roxanne and Minion (14 still clutched to his hand), getting himself between the woman and the robotic-gorilla-fish. "She's using her nosy reporter skills," said Megamind, in a secretive half-whisper, "On your weak-willed mind, to find out all our secrets."

Minion gasped in horror and clamped his hands across the front of his fish bowl. "We have secrets?" I asked, "Roxanne practically knows everything about what we do."

"147," said 56, "remember, brain bots lurking menacingly in the shadows don't give away the fact that our Master has weaknesses."

"Oh, so you admit that Master has weaknesses?" I challenged.

"You, two, zip it." admonished 238, "This is getting good."

Megamind scooted closer to Roxanne, and said in a low voice, almost seductive voice, as he circled around the back of her. "Such tricks, won't work on me."

Roxanne followed Megamind with her eyes, a teasing half smile playing at the corners of her mouth, as though she were trying to hide the fact that she was enjoying this. "Please talk slower."

"Temptress." Whispered Megamind.

56 couldn't help but observe, "Is it just me or is Roxanne blushing just a little?"

238 and I focused in on Roxanne's skin, and yes, we definitely were able to see a bit more color in cheeks, though it seemed to disappear the next instant, and she said with annoyance to Megamind, "What secrets? You're so predictable."

"Whoa, that's gotta hurt more than 14's hyper-steel jaws." Said 56.

"Yeah, we all know how much Master hates being called anything like predictable." I concurred.

"The probability is pretty good he's going to be doing something with a lot of fireworks now." Said 238, and for once neither 56 nor I would be arguing with his mathematical predictions.

238 was right. An expression almost of disbelief passed over Megamind's face. "Predictable?" he repeated, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. No doubt he was trying to comprehend the fact how anyone could think he, the greatest criminal mastermind of all time, was predictable. "Predictable?" he said once more, at a higher volume, and pushing back over to the counsel, he surged to his feet, and questioned, with dark grandness, "You call _this_ predictable?"

He pulled down a lever with a dramatic flourish. The floor around Roxanne's chair pulled back revealing a pit full of alligators, who were jumping and snapping around Roxanne menacingly.

"I can't remember," I said, as one alligator jumped out of the water right at Roxanne's feet, snapped once and then did a twirl or two before landing in the water, "is this their swan lake water ballet or the nutcracker?"

"Nutcracker, I think." Said 238, "The ones on the outside are going in concentric circles, while the ones inside are imitating the Dance of the Flowers."

"Wait, I thought the concentric circles happened in Dance of the Hours?"

"Uh, guys," said 56, "do we really want Megamind to find out that his menacing pet alligators are practicing water ballet in their spare time?"

"Well, this is the only time they get to perform in front of an audience besides us." I said, "And it's better than their synchronized swimming, which still needs some work."

Whilst we were debating the merits of alligators pursuing either water ballet or synchronized swimming in their spare time, Megamind kept trying to come with some way to frighten Roxanne, with everything from large, circular buzz saws whirling dangerously close to her face to spikes and rings of fire. Nothing fazed her; it all came out as either tacky, juvenile, or garish. She had been captured to many times by Megamind; she knew that the only danger she was in would be being getting bored while she waited for Metro Man to come and rescue her.

Finally, Megamind collapsed on the control panel, all of his inventions having been shut down in the face of a woman's harsh tongue, a far more dangerous weapon by far he would come to learn than anything he could devise. However, at that moment, Roxanne said, "The spider's new."

"Spider?" Megamind perked up when he heard this; he turned around and saw the spider which was hanging in front of Roxanne's face. Being a master of improvisation, he quickly said, "Ah, yes, the _speeider_, even the smallest bite from arachnus deathicus, will instantly paralyze-"

He had made the mistake of coming a little too close to Roxanne in his attempt to be menacing. Roxanne coolly blew the spider into Megamind's face and it landed on his eye. Megamind immediately screamed and shouted, "Get it off!"

While Minion was scrambling trying to help his Master (and not really being of much help), the three of us shook our heads from above. While we were enjoying the entertainment, we were a little worried for our Daddy. "This is not one of his better days." I said.

"Yeah, he normally gets in a few better sallies than this." Observed 238.

Even 56, who always seemed to think that every plan Megamind ever had would work, had to concede that we were right. "Being bitten by 14 and a spider all in the same day probably isn't helping him keep up the persona." He said.

Though she was unaware of what we were thinking, Roxanne evidently agreed with us. She watched in exasperation as Megamind writhed in the floor, still screaming about the fact that the spider had bitten him and he was dying. "Give it up, Megamind. Your plans never work."

At the sound of her voice, Megamind's spider bite instantly healed, and he got to his feet. Beaming Roxanne an annoyed glare, he tried to put his cape back in order, and said, with what little dignity he was able to salvage out of the last few minutes, "Let's stop wasting time and call your boyfriend in tights, shall we?"

He had held up one hand to emphatically state his point, when 14 came down once again and bit him on the hand. The three of winced once more, both for our Master's physical pain and his humiliation. This was definitely not one of his better days.

* * *

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	4. Four

Three:

True to the usual formula, Megamind made a grand and menacing entrance to the citizens of Metro City. Even I had to admit that, in the long history of Master's grand entrances; this one was pretty impressive (especially considering the less than auspicious start to the day). A black cloud of smoke had dwarfed the sun, brain bots had burst from the crowd, leaving terrified screams in their wake and Megamind's blue face had plastered itself to the immense sides of the Metro Man Museum. To have the empty-headed rabble of Metro City faced with their worst nightmare on the symbol of their great hero had been Megamind's particular idea. A little clichéd perhaps, and no doubt Miss Ritchi would have said the same thing. On the other hand, clichéd did always produce a rather impressive chorus of screams which Megamind loved, so maybe cliché was a good thing.

Anyway, Megamind and Metro Man went about insulting and threatening each other. Like a horse and a dangling carrot, though, all Megamind had to do was show Metro Man an image of Roxanne Ritchi being held captive (though she clearly wasn't panicking), and Metro Man went dashing off to save the day. Little could she have realized that this time, there would be a twist in the plot this time (even if everyone who played the game, we brain bots included, knew that this would end the same way it always did).

"Metro Man approaching, sir." Said Minion, watching the screen which showed the approaching hero.

"Ha!" said Roxanne, triumphantly.

Megamind whirled around. "Ha ha!"

"Ha ha ha!"

Megamind responded with an evil laugh, his eyes bright with wicked mischief. He pulled down a lever on the control panel, and the contraptions of torture, mayhem and mutilation suddenly vanished. At first, Roxanne seemed surprised by this move. Normally, he preferred to have all of his toys on view to create a more sinister atmosphere. What she didn't know was that Megamind had a far different presentation in mind.

Metro Man was coming closer, faster and faster. At his rate of speed, he would be blasting through the roof in just a few seconds.

"Here he comes." Said 56, all of us filled with anticipation.

Roxanne braced herself for the inevitable explosive contact between steal and superhero. Metro Man was right on top of us. And the very second he should have crashed through the roof there was… nothing! Roxanne, being the smart reporter that she was, knew immediately that something was wrong. Something should have happened; Metro Man should have come crashing through the roof in a spray of rock and concrete dust. Instead, everything was perfectly in order and perfectly still, no Metro Man anywhere in sight.

Megamind saw her confusion. "Oh, good heavens," he said with mock horror, "You didn't think we were in the real observatory, did you?" He pulled another lever on the control panel. Doors opened on the side of the dome, showing Roxanne the _real_ observatory, perched high on a hill across the bay.

"He got her there." Said 56, triumphantly, "Look at her; he's finally caught her by surprise."

"Yeah, even I have to admit this is one of Master's finer plotted schemes." I said, "It has just the right air of subtlety to it."

"We should all be proud of ourselves." Said 56, "After all, it was the brain bots who built the false dome on top of the Lair."

"And don't forget that we couldn't make it conspicuous, so we had to do it at night, and we had to steal all of the right materials." Said 238, "You know how picky Master is; everything had to be to the exact specifications of the real one."

Megamind also looked rather pleased with himself. However, he was about to take it one step further. The real piece de resistance had yet to be revealed. "Ready the death ray, Minion!" He ordered, with his usual dark glee whenever a scheme was it's height of evil brilliance.

"Death Ray readying." Replied Minion.

"Ohh, the death ray." Said 56, "I can't wait to see how this works."

"You should, if nothing else to support your fellow brain bots." I said, "You weren't part of the crew who was blasted into space with the parts and had to put it together for a month. It had better work. I had to miss out on three great battles; I'm expecting my efforts and those of my fellow carriers to be rewarded."

"Quiet, you two." Said 238, "The banter between villain and superhero is about to start."

Megamind had strode over to the screen which showed Metro Man trapped in the dome of the observatory. "Over here, old friend." He said in a patronizing tone. "In case you haven't noticed, you've fallen right into my trap."

"You can't trap justice," replied Metro Man, with his normally uber masculine voice. "It's an idea, a belief."

"Oh, but even the most heartfelt belief can be corroded over time."

"Justice is a non-corrosive metal."

"But metals can be heated by the metal of _ravange_."

"Its revenge and its best served cold."

The repartee went back and forth rapidly here, as Megamind really got into the game. "But it can be easily reheated, in the microwave of evil."

"Well, I think your warranty is about to expire."

"Maybe I got an extended warranty."

"Warranties are invalid, if you don't use the product for its intended purpose."

"Ugh, girls, girls, your both pretty." Said Roxanne, off to one side with exasperation. "Can I go home now?"

While a certain level, I could understand why Roxanne would be a little impatient with these proceedings (she had, after all, heard the same variation of this argument hundreds of times), still I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that the witty repartee portion of the day had come to an end so soon.

"I would have liked to see where they with that myself." Said 238, who apparently shared my sentiments.

"Yes, I actually thought that the microwave of evil was a nice turn of phrase." I said.

"Well, there's always next time." said 56.

The witty repartee might have been over, but not the actual performance. "Of course," said Megamind, "That is if Metro Man can withstand the full concentrated power of the sun!"

Megamind was pretty good at building tension (except for Roxanne, but she had developed an immunity to everything Master did, so she didn't count), and by the time Megamind had revealed his nefarious plot, we brain bots were all the edge of our proverbial seats.

"FIRE!"

A few seconds of dead silence in which we all waited for something, anything to happen. Nothing did. "Okay, what's going on?" I demanded, "That thing was supposed to shoot down a laser ray which was as hot as twenty-thousand fireworks going off at once, blowing that thing to smithereens."

"What about Metro Man?" asked 56, who actually sounded a little worried at the idea.

"Well, of course he would escape. But that explosion would have brought property values down in that part of the city, at least." There was always at least some backlash which resulted from Megamind's schemes, and the lowering of property values was one I was particularly proud to have helped achieve on more than one occasion. "Is this someone's idea of a joke?"

"Hey, 147, calm down." Said 238, "It's not like it's the end of the world."

"I will not calm down! I demand to speak to someone about this. This is an outrage!"

"Whoa, and you accuse Megamind of being melodramatic." Commented 56, ironically.

I was to busy fuming to fire off a witty retort, which I would have been able to do under any other circumstance. Megamind also wasn't in the most forgiving of moods. After a few moments, he rolled his eyes and walked over to where Minion was standing. "Minion, fire?" He inquired, in a tone that clearly questioned why it hadn't fired yet.

"Still warming up, sir." Said Minion, looking at the screen.

Megamind's eyes widened and he looked at Minion in disbelief. "Come again?"

"Warming up.'

"Warming up?" repeated Megamind, in exasperation, "The _sun_ is warming up?"

"One second more, and… just a tippy, tippy, tap, tap tip top more…. And we are almost ready in just…"

Megamind groaned and buried his face in his hands, as he walked away from Minion, muttering, "I told you to have things ready! I told you countless times!"

"Why do you always blame me, sir?" Minion asked, in a tone that almost bordered on being offended.

"If he didn't want to get blamed, he shouldn't have signed on to being the side-kick." I muttered sullenly, forgetting my normally held philosophy on side-kicks to villains in the present circumstances.

"Hey, it really isn't Minion's fault." Said 238, "This was probably a simple error of the solar refractor not being properly aligned with the targeting and timing sensors."

"Yeah, this isn't anyone else's fault." Said 56, "It's not like losing is something we're not used to. There will be another time and a grander plot."

"I know that," I said, "but I was counting on a bigger failure with some explosions. A loss like this, that just fizzles out into nothing. It's embarrassing, that's what it is."

"Would you please cheer up, 147?" said 56, "I hate it when you're like this. You're no fun, even to tease."

I was to wound up at the moment to care much for 56's concern for my emotional well-being. Had I been in more top form, I might have detected the slight alteration in his voice when he spoke to me, a sort of tenderness which had not been there before, or at least, that I hadn't noticed before. However, considering what was recently happening with 125 and 238, maybe it wouldn't have struck me as being all that strange at all.

Anyway, Roxanne was watching these unfolding events with boredom, her earlier panic that Megamind might actually be succeeding having long faded. "You're plan is failing, admit it."

"Yeah, good luck with that one." said Minion, sarcastically.

"Whose side are you on?" demanded Megamind when he heard this.

"The losing side." Roxanne provided the obvious answer.

"We are all of us on the losing side." said 56, "That's what makes it so much fun."

"I am going to need a wrench after tonight." I muttered, as I still hadn't gotten over the disappointment of the failure. "All too myself, all night."

"Then will you be your normally bright and sunny self in the morning?" asked 56.

"Maybe," I snapped back, "If you don't pester me."

"Could someone stamp my frequent kidnapping card?" Roxanne asked as Megamind began to make his exit.

However, when he heard this, he turned and snapped at her, "You of all people should know we discontinued that promotion." He then turned with a dramatic flourish of his cape and said, "Ciao ciao, all." Not the catchiest of exit lines, but admittedly, this wasn't one of Megamind's better failures.

"Same time next week, then?" Roxanne asked, as Minion prepared the spray.

"Well, that's all for now." Said 238, "At least Daddy didn't end up in prison this time."

"Yep, there's always next time." said 56, who poked me one of my tendrils with his. "Come on, 147, wave your little death ray good bye and let's look to future."

Sighing heavily, I was about to respond when I suddenly noticed what was happening on the screen which showed the inside of the abandoned observatory. We had all more or less forgotten that Metro Man was still inside, until we saw that he was flying up, and hitting the dome multiple times, before falling back to the ground. Each attempt at flight seemed to drain him and more and more completely. He was also cursing rather loudly. At least, I thought that they were curses. They really sounded rather strange.

"Fargon! Dag! Crab nuggets!"

"What's with him?" asked 56, as this new thing caught our interest. "He should have escaped by now. The dome's not that hard to get out of, especially for someone with super strength like him."

We were all a bit puzzled by this; it even made me forget the fact that the death ray had been an abysmal failure. And we weren't the only ones. Roxanne, Minion, and Megamind were all stumped as to what was going on. Metro Man flew up to the dome one more time, but fell back again. He looking as if he were completely worn out and he had no more strength left. Megamind crept up to the screen, totally unsure as to what was going on. "Oh no, I'm trapped." Metro Man was saying on the screen.

"What trickery is this?" asked Megamind, in a voice that tried to sound evil, but which only came out as sounding confused and even a little concerned.

"You mad genius!" responded Metro Man, "Your dark gift has finally paid off!"

"It has?" said Megamind, who didn't look as if he enjoyed the compliment.

"It has?" I questioned, "What's he getting at?"

"This dome is obviously lined with copper." Said Metro Man, "And copper drains my power!"

"Huh, was that all it would take." Said 56, "If only we could have known that before, things would have been so much easier."

"Yeah, I wonder what Megamind will do now?" I said, and I honestly didn't know what he would do. Megamind had never had Metro Man in a weakened state before. Technically he could have done whatever he wanted with him. But for some reason, I didn't know if Megamind was actually the kind of person to willfully torture another creature. That was sort of my first inkling that maybe Megamind wasn't truly as much of a villain as he thought himself to be.

However, we never got the chance to know what Megamind would have done. At that very moment, a loud beeping sound came to our hearing sensors. "What's that?" asked 56.

"Um, it's your death ray warming up." Said 238, "And I think it's almost there."

We all turned to look at the screen where the death ray was almost ready to fire. "Hey, it worked." I said, and then I remembered that if Metro Man's powers were drained, than that meant… "Uh on." I said.

Minion had also noticed it. "Uh, sir?"

However, Megamind was too absorbed in what Metro Man had just said to pay him any attention. "You're weakness is copper?" Clearly he was unable to believe how anything as ordinary as copper could be Metro Man's weakness. "You're kidding right?"

The next second, whatever had been causing the delay in the death ray was suddenly miraculously repaired. The death ray hit the observatory dead on, a ray of super cosmic and very, very hot energy slammed into the observatory, which exploded in an enormous cloud of fire and smoke. The concussive blast was such that it caused after shocks even as far away as where we were. We brain bots had to catch onto the walls in order to avoid getting shaken to bits. Minion and Megamind both fell to the ground and Roxanne got more than a little ash and smoke in her face.

After several seconds, the aftershocks finally wore off. "Everyone okay?" asked 56.

238 and I chirped our affirmatives. We then turned our eyes to the blackened hulk of the old observatory. "Well, you wanted flames and explosions and to bring down the property values," 56 said, "Looks like you didn't do too shabby, 147. Congratulations. You, at least managed to make this a meaningful failure."

"What about Metro Man, though?" I questioned, "Do you think he escaped?"

"Oh, of course he did." said 56, "He was probably just pulling Master's leg, trying to lull him into a false sense of security."

Lulling Megamind into a false sense of security had never been one of Metro Man's strong suits (that had always been Roxanne's area of expertise), but before I could say anything 238 said, "Hey guys, look."

Coming out of the smoke cloud was a streak of white which rose in the air in a graceful arc, before changing course and coming directly for the Lair. "See," said 56, "There's Metro Man right now, coming to save the day. Hoped that Daddy would have been able to escape this time. But I suppose that can't be helped."

The figure in the white cape, burst through the observatory, landing right on top of Megamind. Only, it wasn't Metro Man's body, it was Metro Man's skeleton. Seeing this, Megamind gasped and scrambled out from under the pile of bones, kicking it away from him a few times for good measure.

For several seconds, a heavy silence reigned in the observatory. We brain bots who had seen the whole thing were staring with open mouths at the skeleton of Metro Man. We couldn't believe it. Had Megamind actually managed to _defeat _Metro Man?

"Are you two seeing what I'm seeing?" asked 56.

"Yeah, if you're seeing that Metro Man is dead." I said.

"Same here." Said 238.

"Good, that means I didn't dream it."

Roxanne gasped in horror at the sight before her. But it was really Megamind's face that caught my attention. It was a look of total and utter shock. This had not been part of the plan. It was _never_ part of the plan. Of course, the intention was always to win, but he had obviously never thought it would be achieved. For a moment, it seemed that Megamind could not believe it.

"You…you did it, sir." Said Minion, trying to sound congratulatory, but even he seemed to be shocked by the outcome of the day's events.

"I did it?" he repeated.

"He did it." said 56, and we all nodded along with him. He had done it.

And then, it seemed to slowly dawn on Megamind, that for the first time in his life, he had accomplished something, he had won. "I did it!" He cried, his face a wild mask of joy, "Metrocity is mine!"

This was not the normal reaction of a super villain when he wins against his nemesis. There should have been some gloating or mad laughter. If he were a real super villain, he probably would have even done something to Roxanne. But he didn't do that. Indeed there didn't even seem to be any malice in his attitude (perhaps a delight to do mischief, but really nothing more), there was just this wild, pure joy at actually having _won_, even if he didn't fully realize what he had won.

See, Megamind might have defeated Metro Man that day, but as we would come to see, there would be a decided difference in Megamind the villain who always lost and Megamind the villain who took over the city. As it would turn out, winning wouldn't turn out to be as great as Megamind thought it would be. Sometimes, the greatest danger about gaining everything, is finding out that it wasn't as great as you thought it would be.


	5. Five

Five:

Darkness fell over Metro City. The streets were unusually quiet, and a sinister silence seemed to reign over everything. Bad news traveled fast. Everyone knew that Megamind had defeated Metro Man. The hero which had stood between them and the villainous scoundrel was gone, and now the reign of Megamind was about to begin.

At least, that was what everyone, even us brain bots seemed to think at the time. Looking back on it, and to be quite honest, it's difficult to actually see what was so menacing about Megamind's all too short reign as the Evil Overlord of Metro City. Yes, admittedly, it was somewhat of a nuisance, a messy affair, and traffic patterns in the city were disrupted, but beyond that it was nothing more.

But that's speaking in hindsight. The night that Megamind took over the city, 56, 238 and I were among the brain bots that went with him in order to take control of City Hall. All of them were very excited. Daddy's sense of elation had been infectious. None of us could believe that we had actually won. We thought that life from now on would be one long party. Little could we have known what was really about to come.

56, especially, was the most excited of the three of us. "I always knew that this day would come." He enthused to the two of us as we hovered through the air, following Megamind down Metro City's main street. "I always knew that sometime, some day I would be able to say that Megamind, our Master, Creator and Daddy, is the Evil Overlord of Metro City."

I looked at him. "I thought that Megamind could only put that many capitol letters into one sentence."

"Sorry, 147, nothing you could say can ruin the glory of this moment. This is a day that everyone in Metro City will remember for the rest of their lives."

"Speaking of which, I don't think that there will be that big of a crowd tonight." Observed 238, "Everyone seems to be covering their windows for the night."

"Ha! Cowering in fear before the might of Megamind!" said 56, rather dramatically.

"Um, 56, I think that Daddy can handle his own advertising." I said, "He's been doing it fine all these years. I think you should leave the evil monologues to him. He does them much better. Plus, no one can understand you except for us brain bots and not one of us listens to you anyway."

"Of course they listen to me." objected 56.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" I replied.

"You're a riot, 147, has anyone ever told you that?"

"Several actually. I was wondering when you would finally notice it."

"Look, moving away from the battle of wits which you two enjoy so much," said 238, "does anyone know what Megamind being Evil Overlord of this city will actually mean?"

"Oh, you know, probably the usual on a grander scale." Said 56, "Mayhem and mischief on an epic scale, knocking down a few buildings, lowering property values, that sort of thing."

"And neither of you see anything wrong in all this?" asked 238.

"Just as long as Megamind doesn't actually kill anyone." I said, "I mean, 658 attempts to take over the city and not one casualty, it would be a shame to ruin such a perfect image right now when he is starting a new chapter in his life."

"And do you know how hard blood stains are to get out of anything?" said 125, who had just hovered up to join us. "I should know, since I've been in charge of getting Daddy's blood out of his clothes on the rare occasion when he wasn't able to heal himself."

"Come on, 238," said 56, "why the long face? Get in the spirit, our Daddy has won, we should be proud."

"I _am_ proud, but I'm also worried. I mean, I don't know if this will be as great as Master thinks it will."

"Why?" I asked, honestly curious. 238 had a pretty logical mind, and he wasn't given to flights of fancy (unlike 56, who seemed to reside in a world completely of his own making).

"I can't say why, exactly. I just have a bad feeling about it."

125 hooked one tendriled hand around 238's. "Don't worry so much, 238. Daddy will take care of us, he always has. You know what 1 always says. We're here to help Megamind, and he will always be there for us. We're family, and we watch out for each other."

"I hope you're right, 125, I hope your right."

"You know," said 56, in a whisper to me, "I think we ought to hover on ahead and let the two love bots have a little time to themselves."

"Yeah, good idea." I said, as we moved forward, "I didn't know that you were so sensitive."

"I'm not really; they're just starting to get on my nerves."

I rolled my eyestalk, but made no other answer. Moving up in the brain bot crowd was fine with me. I needed to be in position anyway for the grand entrance. Yes, Megamind had needed to plan another suitably grand entrance, on rather short notice, but he always seemed to thrive under pressure.

"You got the thingy that will set off the water into a great big cloud of mist that will blind everyone so that can't see and be even more frightened?" asked 56.

"Of course I do, I'm a carrier. I'm surprised to remember these things. Good thing you're not in charge of the water portion of this mission, otherwise you would have forgotten. For a seeker, you have lousy recall when it comes to that sort of thing."

"Well, that's not what I was programmed for. You're the best carrier Master has ever created. I, however, am his best seeker. We all have our strengths."

"Just don't mess up." I said. "We don't want to give Master a bad name on his first day in office."

Moving up in the crowd of brain bots had given us an opportunity to listen on what Megamind and Minion were saying. They had not stopped congratulating each other the entire day. Or to be more accurate, Minion had not stopped congratulating Megamind all day and Megamind would give his side-kick more than an occasional side note of praise.

Megamind still seemed pretty happy about the whole thing. However, when Minion asked him, "So, what's the plan, sir?"

Megamind replied with an almost ecstatic, "I have no idea." That gave me a pause for a moment, for no particular reason than that Megamind always seemed to have a plan, and about a dozen back-up plans. No matter that they all ended in failure, planning was one of Megamind's strong suits. However, it didn't strike me until later that not having a plan could turn out to be a bad thing for Megamind.

And it certainly didn't occur to Master that anything out of the ordinary was occurring. "Hit it." He told Minion, who hit a key on the stereo. The opening strains of AC/DC's Highway to Hell started blaring through the streets of Metro City (Courtesy of several surround speakers we brain bots had set up a few hours before, to heighten the effect).

"That's our cue." I told 56, and we flew past Megamind, to the plaza which stood in front of the Metro Man Museum. There was an immense reflecting pool of water, there, and on the other side was City Hall. We could see a large crowd in front of the Hall, mainly consisting of reporters and other curiously morbid onlookers. Around the Hall, the police had barricaded the door, but they didn't look as if they would be putting up much of a fight.

"Not a bad turn out after all." I said.

"Good, the more eyes, the more witnesses to spread tales of Master's epic entrance." Said 56.

The crowd had already heard the blaring music from a distance. Frightened murmurs began running through the crowd. They didn't notice two, little, insignificant, little brain bots, that was until we dropped the specially crafted bomb right in the middle of the reflecting pool. There was a loud whooshing noise, and the water in the pool swirled up and around the plaza, obstructing the view beyond in a murky grey haze. The police immediately dropped into position, guns out and ready to shoot, but their shaking was visible.

"Yes," said 56, as the two of us high-fived, "we have got the first reaction out of the police."

Out of the cloud of murky vapor, bright blue lasers shot out (not the burning up people type of lasers, lasers more for effect and light show than anything else), the music rose to a deafening pitch and then Megamind appeared in all his glory. He looked rather threatening, I must say, appearing out of the fog like that. And it produced the intended effect on the police. "Drop 'em." Barked Megamind and they immediately obeyed.

None of the crowd offered any resistance, as Megamind almost pranced into the barricade, scaring a few people along the way, jumped up the stairs and stood there impressively for a few moments, allowing the sheer evilness of his presence to overwhelm the crowd. He then turned to Minion and motioned for him to cut the music off.

Minion did so, only instead of deafening and threatening silence, the music switched instead to, of all things, a mild love song. Megamind had a moment of embarrassment as Minion frantically switched between the two completely different moods, and finally smashed the stereo into silence.

I looked at 56. "What? What? Why are you looking at me?" said 56.

"You were the last one to have the stereo. Didn't you make sure that the CD was in the right place?"

"Hey, I can't help it if Master and Minion have totally different tastes in music." said 56, "Minion was the one who told me to put both CD's in there, I just took them out."

I sighed heavily, as 125 and 238, still tendril in tendril, came hovering to us. "Not bad on the water bomb you two." Said 125.

"Not too bad yourself with the blue lasers." I said. "You don't get out in the field much 125, you should consider it."

"I don't know." said 125, and she looked at 238, "Do you think me being here would distract you from your work."

"Well, uh, I don't know. It might, but, that's not to say it wouldn't. It might inspire the best in me. Not that I need you to inspire the best in me, or I mean to say…"

"238," said 125, "relax before you sprain a bolt or something."

"Or make the rest of us sick." Said 56.

"Anyway, moving on." I said, my voice cutting into the rest of them.

Now that Megamind finally had the undivided attention of the crowd, he was ready to begin his speech. Megamind, shooting his side-kick a rather annoyed glare, grabbed a microphone from hovering brain bot 35, and began to speak. "First off, what a turn out. How wild is this, huh? All I did was eliminate the most powerful man in the universe. Are there any questions?"

We weren't expecting there to be any questions. The entire crowd was cowering before Megamind in terror, something he had always dreamed of and wanted. However, there was one who stepped forward, her hand raised, and Megamind called on her before he even really saw who it was. "Yes, you in the back."

"I'm sure we'd all like to know what you plan to do with us and this city."

The voice belonged to none other than Roxanne Ritchi, and for a split second, something like uncertainty passed over Megamind's face, as though he weren't sure how to respond. However, he rallied himself quickly, and said, with renewed evil bravado. "Good, I'm glad you asked that. Imagine the most horrible, terrifying, most evil thing you can possibly think of, and multiply it, by six!"

"Huh, I wonder what that would come too?" I said.

"Well, if you let _x_ equal the amount of evil that Megamind could accomplish and let _y _be the inherent consequences, and then use six for the constant…"

"I wasn't actually asking for real, 238." I said.

"Oh." Said 238, who looked rather crushed that he wouldn't be able to figure a complex math problem.

"Oh, don't listen to her, 238, I'm interested." Said 125.

That seemed to brighten 238's day no end and he immediately brightened, the blue sparks in his dome going off like crazy. "Really, you are?"

"Yes, I would like to find out how it ends." Said 125, as she began pulling him away, with 238 following right behind her.

We watched them go. "125 interested in listening to 238 drone on about math and actually sounding interested in it." I said, "It must be love."

56 seemed to shudder. "Don't make me think about it, please."

We turned back to listen to the tail end of Megamind's big speech. "In the meantime, I want you to carry on with the dreary, normal things, you normal people do. Let's just have fun with this, come on. And I will get back to you."

That finished, he wrapped his cape about him dramatically and backed away, disappearing into the building. Minion followed, a little less gracefully, for there is only so gracefully that a robotic-gorilla-fish can move. He then slammed the door loudly, at Megamind's whispered instructions, which were audible to everyone, and therefore rather ruined the effect of mysterious and threatening disappearance. It left the crowd in something of a state of puzzled fear, while Megamind would probably have wanted more fear. Oh well, it wasn't a bad night's work for us brain bots. Quite frankly, we were all looking forward to the next few days, when we would be experiencing life in a whole different way.

* * *

Please, read and review. In the next chapter, we find out that Megamind's delima of being a villain with no hero to fight is mirrored in his brain bots. It's tough being a brain bot when there is nothing to do.


	6. Six

Six:

At first, it was fun. Not even I could have denied that. It was as if a whole new door had been opened to us brain bots as Megamind's followers. It was so different being out in the open during the day in Metro City, instead of in the dark of night or always lurking in the shadows. I had honestly never known that Metro City could be so beautiful, or big. The city was huge, well, by brain bot standards. It seemed like there were so many things to do and see. Granted, a lot of the things we saw weren't all that exciting. Most things had been shut down because of Megamind's reign, because people were too scared to come out of their homes. But still, what we saw during those weeks of Megamind being Evil Overlord of Metro City was more than any of us ever dreamed to be possible.

Megamind and Minion were certainly having the time of their lives. Often on some of our tours through the city, we would see them playing with the bags of money that they had stolen from the local banks, or taking what they pleased from the art museums, as well as anywhere else. They played darts with the sides of buildings and any spare trucks that happened to be lying along the side of the road. Bright blue graffiti was smeared on every flat surface. We even helped him to paint the golden dome of City Hall blue.

All this was fun, and I would be lying if we brain bots still don't get together on a lazy evening and reminisce about those times. It was a heady rush of freedom that none of us had experienced before. But, it didn't last. After a couple of weeks, we all started to feel that something simply wasn't right.

Megamind had programmed all of us with our own personalities, but we also had specific tasks that we excelled at. I, for example, along with several others, are carriers for Megamind. A lot of his inventions were pretty large and his schemes very elaborate, calling for minute and specific placement. Those of us who were designated as carriers would always bring whatever was needed to where it needed to get to.

Others, like 56, are seekers. They can find any person in any crowd, or anywhere else where someone might hide, often pinpointing their location with startling accuracy. Most of the time, that person was Roxanne Ritchi, but there was also Metro Man to be constantly aware of, plus the police, firemen and SWAT team.

There are brain bots that look to finer tuning of the machines that Megamind builds, such as 238, and those who are in charge of putting them all together. Megamind and Minion together wouldn't have been able to finish all of the machines, death rays, and other objects of destruction without us brain bots to assist. Megamind is a genius and Minion is also pretty sharp, but they are only two, and there was always a schedule to keep. They needed us to make sure that everything went smoothly all the time.

There are even brain bots whose soul job is to prepare for the look of the whole thing, the scare factor which really was just for thrills. And don't get me started about Megamind's wardrobe department. Minion designed nearly all of his fearsome and menacing capes, but some of them came out of 125's and other brain bots circuitry. They are also in charge of making sure that those capes keep clean, the spikes are sharp and free of rust, and the boots are always shone to within an inch of their lives. They even recycle a lot of things. Megamind might have been responsible for many things, but he was never responsible for making the hole in the ozone layer grow larger. His carbon footprint was always surprisingly small.

Anyway, we had all known what our purpose in life was. Some of us were carriers or seekers or builders. Some of us branched out into other things, and we all had our interests outside of work, but our purpose had been to help Megamind in what we had been programmed to do. After a few weeks, with no big battle with Metro Man to plan or look forward too, we all started to feel that creeping sensation which you humans call boredom. There was simply nothing to do without Metro Man. What was the point of being a carrier when Master was no longer making impressive machines which required the heavy lifting? What about finding someone to kidnap when there would be no one to rescue them?

Though some of us may not have understood it, we were all beginning to wonder what would happen next. We had gotten used to routine and a pattern; without that, our lives began to grow dull and colorless.

You think we had it bad though, consider the situation with Megamind. Part of our boredom stemmed from his growing sense of melancholy. I, at least, began to gradually become aware of the fact that Daddy was not acting like himself. He seemed to smile less and the maniacal, evil laughter grew more strained and forced, until it disappeared altogether. He took to locking himself away in his office at the City Hall, seeing no one and speaking to no one, except for Minion. In our rounds about the city, which were becoming less and less frequent (there is only so much excitement that buildings and parks can bring. We knew how lively Metro City could be and we wanted to experience it for ourselves), we heard the minute whisperings of the populace. They were puzzled and frightened. What was going on with Megamind? Surely he should have made himself a more visible presence. Was he perhaps even now planning some dastardly plot which would endanger all of their lives?

Well, not even I could have answered that question unless I had been present on what turned out to be a rather fateful night in Megamind's life.

It all started in the office he had taken over when he had become Evil Overlord. The room was cluttered with objects he had stolen over the past couple of weeks. I doubt he even realized I was there, at all. But I had nothing else to do, and I wasn't interested in roaming around town counting the streetlights that were working and those that weren't. So, what did I do? I did what any sensible carrier brain bot would do if they were bored out of their nano-wiring; I started carrying objects from one side of the room to the other. Did that serve a purpose? No, of course not, but I didn't really feel like I had much of a purpose now, so it was irrelevant.

I was carrying a painting from the left side of the room to the right side. I have to admit, I wasn't really listening too much that Megamind was saying, he was talking to some cheap plastic desk toy that people buy at a shooting gallery at fairs. Megamind could squeeze a deeper meaning for a monologue over something as insignificant as a dirty sock. It wasn't surprising me that now he had nothing to live for in his life, he was doing something like that.

I was putting the picture off to one side in a pile of miscellaneous junk (that was what most of the stuff in the office had become, junk), and when I saw something hidden deeper in the shadows. I took a closer look and realized that it was one of the paintings from the Impressionist collection I had seen a few weeks before. Just as 56 is interested in baseball and 238 has an obsession with architecture, I loved art. And somehow, when I looked at one of the innumerable paintings that had been created of the water lilies by Monet, I couldn't help but remember that when I had seen it in the art museum, it had somehow looked prettier. The the museum had been closed at the time and so the light had been dim anyway, but for some reason, just seeing it all by itself there, underneath a pile of junk, just didn't seem right. Perhaps it was a little strange to feel that way about a painting, but then I looked back at Megamind, who was still engaged in his monologue with the desk toy bird. If he was looking that far for some sort of answers, maybe it wasn't so odd I should feel that way about a painting.

Suddenly Minion burst into the room, screaming a song at the top of his lungs, playing on a large statue as though it were a guitar. I winced slightly at the sound, having been broken from my reverie. Minion is wonderful at many things, but singing is not one of them. He should stick to cooking and sewing.

Megamind was also not too thrilled at being interrupted. "Not now, Minion." He said, with a great deal of annoyance, "I'm in the middle of a deep, existential discussion with this dead-eyes plastic desk toy." Though he was directing some of his anger at Minion, it seemed to me that the robotic fish was not the real reason for Megamind's depression.

Minion, concerned and confused at his master's strange mood, asked, "Is-Is everything all right, sir?"

"Just think of it," said Megamind, almost as if he was not aware of the question, "We have everything, and yet we have nothing."

Nothing? I looked around at the room, and the gobs and gobs of stuff which Megamind had accumulated over the last few weeks. But then again, it really didn't seem all that great an accomplishment as I looked back upon it. I mean, it's not like there had been much of a fight for it. It didn't feel like it had been earned. Even villainy needs to have that small piece of satisfaction, even if the gains are ill-gotten. That suddenly made me wonder if that was what Megamind was so depressed about.

"What do you mean, sir?" asked Minion.

Megamind turned in his chair and looked at the big window which had a view across the reflecting pool, all the way to the Metro Man Museum. "I mean, we did it."

"Yes, well, you did it, sir. You've made that perfectly clear."

"Then why do I feel so _mellon-choly_?"

"What?"

"Unhappy."

I stared at Megamind from my perch hidden in the piles of stuff. I couldn't help feeling a sympathetic towards Daddy. He just seemed so lost and pitiful.

Minion wasn't always that great at following Megamind's more meandering way of talking about things. He knew that something was wrong with his master, so he tried one suggestion that he thought would be of comfort. "Well, how about in the morning, we go kidnap, Miss Ritchi? That always seems to lift your spirits."

For a brief second, I though I saw Megamind's eyes light up at the suggestion, and for a moment, it seemed like a good idea to me, too. It had been a long time since Megamind and Roxanne had battled it out. But then it suddenly occurred to me that half the fun of that had been Roxanne's complete indifference to his menacing presence. And besides, what was the use if there were no Metro Man to complete the picture? I mean, villain and damsel in distress and hero. That was always how things worked. But missing one vital component of the story made it all seem pointless.

Megamind seemed to agree with me. His sad aspect returned and he said, "Thanks, Minion. But without him, what's the point?" He had been looking at the window towards the Metro Man Museum at this point, and that's when it hit me. Megamind missed Metro Man. Of course, that made perfect sense. The elation which had once come from defeating Metro Man had long since vanished. And whenever he heard about the fact that the caped crusader of justice was no longer around, Megamind seemed to flinch, as though it were something he would rather not be reminded of. I could understand that. There had always been a sort of professional, begrudging admiration between the two, even if neither of them would have admitted it. Where was to the yin to his yang? It was gone, the balance had been upset.

"Him, sir?" said Minion, who seemed to have missed the look which Megamind had thrown out the window.

"Never mind."

Minion seemed to realize that there would no getting through to Megamind that night. He powered down, and the office went silent. For awhile, I was kind of unsure what to do, I mean, I couldn't exactly leave quietly, not when Daddy was till sitting there looking incredibly pathetic. 1 has always told me that I've got a gift for encouragement. When one of the brain bots is feeling sad, I just have to go out there and comfort them. The same goes for Megamind. Many is the time when I have sat in his lap, while he petted my glass dome and vented either to me or Minion about all the problems in the world that he was encountering. Oh, the secrets I could tell, if I could talk.

Anyway, after awhile, I hovered up from where I had been hiding and carefully went over to Megamind's chair. He still hadn't seen me, and seemed to be lost in thought. So when hesitantly tapped him on the shoulder, he let loose a surprised scream, whirled around in the chair and demanded in his best affronted evil voice, "Halt! Who goes there?"

I was half-surprised myself, and jumped back a few feet, chattering electronically, my dome buzzing with blue light. Megamind stared at me for a moment, before finally relaxing his guard (and the grip he had on his dehydration gun). "147? How long have you been here?"

I gave something resembling a mechanical shrug and chirped. "Long enough, then?" I chirped again, and gave a nod. There was really no point in denying it. Megamind heaved a sigh and shook his head. "Why should I be surprised? There's nothing else left for you to do, is there?" I nudged his hand with one of my tendrils, trying to offer what help I could, which didn't seem nearly enough. When that didn't seem to work, I hovered over to him and curled up in his lap. Automatically, he began to pet my glass dome, and after a few minutes he began to give voice to his thoughts. "It seems like another lifetime, doesn't it, 147? All those conflicts, all those battles. It just didn't seem like it would ever end, I never thought it would end. But now it has, and I now feel like I would do anything to get it back. I have no purpose now. Being bad is hardly worthwhile when there's nothing evil to do. I've pretty much done everything I could do. And you, all of you, my faithful brain bots, all of you are suffering from it, aren't you?"

I wasn't sure how I could answer that. It was true, we brain bots were starting to get a little bored. Our lives had started to get so lackluster nowadays that our social lives were starting to suffer from it. We had nothing to talk about, nothing to compare notes about, the Lair itself was starting to feel strangely silent and empty, even when all of us were there. Then again, I couldn't tell Master that, it would only make him feel worse. Yet another difference between him and a regular super-villain: Megamind is very sensitive to our needs, however programmed our emotions might be. He always tries to make sure that we have everything we could possibly need, and if he senses that any of us are unhappy, the lengths he will go to make that one brain bot feel better are astounding. I was practical enough, to know that he couldn't possibly help all of us at the same time. He needed to help himself first.

"Well, I don't think you need to answer me. I created all of you to help me, now you've done that, and I have nothing to give you in return. I've let all of you down."

Okay, that was too much. Yes, we were bored, but none of us would even think of blaming Megamind, our creator, our daddy. I rose a little bit in the air and chirped at Megamind, and I have to admit that I sounded a bit like 1 when she scolds us for being naughty. I don't know if Megamind got everything that I was trying to say, but what I roughly said was, "Look, Master, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here. If you hadn't cared about us enough to give us all distinct personalities, then we wouldn't have a purpose. We know that you care for us, and we care for you. That's enough, regardless of what the circumstances are."

Whether or not he got everything, Megamind at least understood the gist of what I was saying. "All right, all right 147, calm down. I understand."

Calming down, I returned back to his lap. Despite the fact that he still seemed rather down in the dumps, he managed something resembling a smile. "Where would I be without all of you and Minion? At least I know you'll be with me regardless of what happens."

I chirped softly in affirmative. Yes, we brain bots would be there for Megamind, no matter what. After all, that's what we had been created for.

About an hour later, darkness had fallen over Metro City. Megamind had at last gotten up from his chair to get ready for bed. Since he hadn't exactly dismissed me, I figured I might as well do something else. I set up the plasma screen TV on the desk. He had stolen during the first few days of his reign as Evil Overlord. Megamind came in, dressed in pajamas that were decorated with hazard symbol signs and vampire bat slippers (it must be admitted that Megamind did not have the most frightening of sleeping attire. Maybe that was the only time when he could let down the mask of being evil and be his true self). He seemed pleased with the fact that I had set up the TV, at least, as pleased as he could be. Not surprisingly, the first thing that he sought was KCMP 8 news. I did not have much hope of that cheering him up, lately, the news was all the same, and it was all depressing.

This evening proved to be no exception, although, towards the end of the program, there was a report made by Roxanne Ritchi who particularly made Megamind sit up and listen.

She was reporting live from in front of the Metro Man Museum. She looked like she had had a rough couple of days. And she seemed very sad, more subdued than I had ever seen her. "Perhaps, we all took him for granted." She was saying, in reference to Metro Man, "Maybe we never really know how good we have it until it's gone. We miss you, Metro Man, _I_miss you. And I just have one question for Megamind: are you happy now? This is Roxanne Ritchi reporting live from a city without a hero."

I couldn't help but feel a little angry when I heard this, for Master's sake. I chirped angrily at the screen. No, of course, Daddy wasn't happy. He was suffering just as much as anyone else. Why else would he have holed himself up in City Hall instead of going out terrorizing the city day after day? But Megamind said, "Stop, 147. It's no more than I deserve."

He turned around once more and looked out at the view of the Metro Man Museum. He was even more depressed than he had been a couple hours ago. At last, he told me, without turning to look at me. "147, go back to the Lair. Tell some of the brain bots that I would like to them to blow up the Metro Man Museum."

He didn't need to tell me anything else. I think I knew why he wanted to destroy the Museum. If he had wanted to erase any reminder of his former rival, he would have done it first thing. This was far more personal. I think that the memories were becoming too much for him. Besides, it was nice finally having something to do, even if it seemed to serve no great purpose. But then again, without a hero to fight, it must be admitted that none of us had any sort of purpose anymore.

* * *

The way I am writing 147, she's starting to remind me of a golden retriever. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. It was a little more serious then the others have been, just because Megamind himself is a little depressed around this point. The next one will be happier, and have more of the brain bots in it. So, drop a review if you have the chance.


	7. Seven

Seven:

"So, why are we doing this again?" 56 was asking, as we scurried about on the bottom floor of the Metro Man Museum, along with a few dozen other of the brain bots, setting up the dynamite and other explosives.

"I think we're doing it because he told us too." I said, as I arranged some of the dynamite around the big toe of the immense Metro Man statue which was the centerpiece of the museum, which I frankly found to be somewhat nauseating. Honestly, did one man need a statue this big?

"But do you have any idea why? I mean, it doesn't exactly make much sense."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed," I responded, "Daddy has not really been on the most logical frame of mind for the past few weeks."

"Hey, I have noticed." 56 shot back defensively, "I'm not blind you know. There's no need for you to get all defensive."

I sighed and shook my head. I gestured for him to follow me a little ways up the atrium, to the top of the Metro Man statue, where we hopefully wouldn't be disturbed. 56 seemed a little puzzled, but he followed me anyway. We floated up near one of the clefts formed by the elbow of Metro Man, as he was holding up a globe of the earth. We settled into the cleft and I said, "Sorry, I snapped at you, but to be quite honest, I'm worried about Daddy."

"Aren't we all?" said 56. He seemed to pick up on my surprise, and said, "I _am_ a seeker, 147. It's my job to notice the small things. Plus, a lot of what I've been hearing from 1 has got me worried too."

"What has 1 been saying?" I had been so busy watching Megamind lately; I hadn't been back to the Lair for a few days.

"Well, for one thing, Megamind has been persona non grata at the Lair. He's only been back there twice since taking over as Evil Overlord. You know how much time he spent there before."

"Granted, it is the only place where he can hang out with any degree of security."

"True enough, but you have to admit, that he does all of his work. He designs all of his machines of mayhem, all of his brilliant escapes from jail, not to mention the multiple editions of his memoirs he's started. 1 says it's because he has no reason to come back. He's got the whole city so he has nothing to plan for now. You know how smart Master is, even when it's not always apparent. Without an opponent to plan or fight for, he's starting to get bored. And I don't know if a bored Megamind is a real good thing, for anyone."

I thought about this, and I had to admit that he was right. After all, the brain was a muscle too, and if it wasn't exercised, there was a danger that it would turn to mush and be useless. I would have considered that was what had happened to some of the more dense brain bots, had it not been for the fact that we don't need to exercise in order to be healthy (another advantage of living a mechanical life).

"That sure goes with what I saw tonight."

"What do you mean?" asked 56.

I told him what had happened earlier that evening and what Megamind had said. 56 shook his head. "That's not true though. Daddy has never let us down. Still, if what you think is true, I guess it makes sense why he is destroying this museum."

"Which is actually kind of a tragedy of architectural beauty." Said a new voice, a voice that sounded suspiciously like 238. We both turned our eyestalks upward and saw that 238 was perching on the statue's hand.

"How long have you been sneaking up there?" I asked, a trifle annoyed.

"I wasn't sneaking; I was taking pictures from multiple angles of this statue. Since we're going to be destroying it and everything. I want to compare it to other similar statuesque styles from around the world."

56 and I looked at each other. Of our entire little trio, 238 could sometimes be the most odd. "Why on earth would you want to do that?" asked 56.

"Yeah, it's a little disturbing that you want a detailed picture of this statue." I said, "It's almost a little intricate for my tastes."

"Hey, it could be worse. He could be naked."

He said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world, but 56 and I just stared at him in stupefaction. "You did not just say that." said 56, "You cannot be serious."

"Thank you for saying that, 238." I said, "I will now be having nightmares for the rest of the night."

"Hey, I'm just saying."

"What does this have to do with the current conversation?" I asked, "I am sort of finding it disturbing."

"I was just agreeing with you." said 238, "Daddy really isn't thinking right, and the result of it that he has to tear down this great building. I think that it's a tragedy. I was only able to go through it once, but the way that this museum is put together is second to none I've ever seen."

"However much I might agree with you, you really shouldn't be eavesdropping." I said.

"Sorry, but it didn't sound like anything too secret. On the other hand, if you were just enjoying each other's company, than I'm sorry that I interrupted."

"What did you say?" asked 56.

"You don't have to worry. I'm dating 125; I know how hard it is to get time alone. You have to get whatever you can, even if it's only a few minutes before we're going to blow up the museum."

"56 and I weren't-" I said, but stopped, not really wanting to say the words.

"Yeah, we certainly weren't doing that." said 56. "We were just…" Who seemed just as reluctant to give any sort of indication that we could be together as a couple.

"I don't know how you could even think that idea." I said, but noticed that 238 were not listening. I bonked him on the head, "Hey, listen to us when we are denying you're last statement."

"Shh." Said 238, "Guys, look." He pointed to one end of the walkway that ran around the statue of Metro Man. Roxanne Ritchi had just stepped out onto the balcony and was walking towards the statue. "What's she doing here?" 238 wondered.

My eye stalk was suddenly drawn to the opening of the elevator door on the other side of the balcony. "Maybe the same reason Daddy is here." I said. The other two looked in my direction and saw Megamind standing on the opposite side of Roxanne. They couldn't see each other because the large statue hid them from view. Megamind was still decked out in his juvenile sleeping wear, the menace factor of which was only slightly increased by the presence of a black cape. He was also carrying a big bouquet of yellow roses.

We took a moment to take in this sight. Both Roxanne and Megamind appeared to be very depressed and sad. "Okay, Roxanne and Master both in the same room." Said 56, "This will either be very interesting, or very bad."

238 and I shushed him, because both Roxanne and Megamind were speaking to the large statue of Metro Man. Megamind said, "I've made a terrible mistake, I never meant to destroy you. Well, of course, I _meant_ to destroy you, but I never actually thought it would work."

"Boy, he looks blue." Said 238.

I shot him a glare. "That's not very funny, 238." I said.

"Well, he doesn't look so cheerful, so he's not entirely mistaken." Said 56, "Did he look this bad when you saw him earlier?"

"I don't know, this just might be worse." I said, "It's hard to tell when someone is always depressed whether or not they're more depressed at other times. But what about Roxanne, what's she doing here?"

"Well, she and Metro Man were dating. At least, so said everyone but her. Maybe she just wanted to come and pay her respects." Said 238.

"She didn't choose a very good time to pay her respects. We're going to blow up the building in under five minutes." Said 56, "You think we should try and do something to warn her."

I shook my head. "No, just give them a minute."

Roxanne, on her side of the statue, was looking up at the statue. "What are we supposed to do?" She asked the statue, or perhaps the spirit of the dead superhero. She sounded almost pleading, as if she actually wanted Metro Man to come back somehow, and take care of Megamind. Strange, but I think I wanted the same thing too. Anything to make Daddy smile again. "Without you, evil is running rampant. Someone has to stop Megamind."

On the other side of the statue, Megamind gave voice to very similar thoughts. "I'm so tired of running rampant through the streets. What's the point of being bad if there's no good to stop you?"

Roxanne was interrupted on her side of the statue by a flat, tired voice which said, "Hey, we're closing soon."

Roxanne nearly leapt a foot off the ground as she whirled around, to face what was the most unthreatening specimen of humanity that we brain bots had ever seen. An average looking man with average hair, wearing an average suit and wearing glasses. "Hey, who's the dweeb?" asked 56.

"That's the guy who runs the museum." Said 238, "I saw his image on the museum website. His name escapes me at the moment. He's an expert on Megamind and Metro Man."

"Oh, you scared me," said Roxanne, "Barry, right?"

"Bernard." Said the average man (who also had a pretty average name).

"Yes, Bernard." Said Roxanne, who looked a little embarrassed at having been caught talking to an inanimate statue, "I was just, well, talking to myself. You must think I'm pretty crazy."

Bernard shrugged his shoulders, looking a little tired and wanting nothing more than to just get everyone out of his museum so that he could leave. "I'm not allowed to insult guests directly."

"Oh, well, thank you, Bernard. I'll just be a few more minutes."

Bernard merely nodded and walked past her with his cart of books. The three of us thought no more of this matter, but it turned out that the average face of Bernard would turn out to be a face that we all would get used to. But, at the time, our attention was drawn back to Daddy.

Megamind was totally oblivious to the state of affairs on the other side of the statue. He had been sobbing brokenly all the while, and now said, "I had so many evils plans in the works. The illiteracy beam, typhoon cheese, robo-sheep. Battles that we will not serve. You know, I never got a chance to say good-bye. So, it's really good that we have this time together. You know, before I destroy the place." He withdrew a handheld timer from the bouquet of flowers and hit the button on the top. "It's nothing personal; it just brings back to many painful memories. He dropped both the timer and flowers onto the floor below.

"That's our cue." Said 56, "We've got three minutes tops to get out of here before this thing blows to high heaven."

"What about Roxanne?" I said. But when we looked at the place where she had been a few minutes before, she had disappeared.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that. She'll be able to get out in time." said 56, "Just hope she doesn't run into Megamind on the way out."

We flew down to the main floor. I was the last to leave, and I thought that I saw a bright, blue flash on the side of the balcony where Megamind had been. But I wasn't sure, and I didn't have time to check it out. So, I dismissed and followed the others.

We were met by 35, who had been in charge of the operation, and was in the process of ushering the brain bots out from the premises. "Where have you two been?" She huffed, as she held up the timer, which was swiftly ticking down. "We've only a few minutes."

"One minute, 47 seconds, and 13 milliseconds, to be precise." Said 238, but when he saw 35's glare, he muttered, "I mean, well, if anyone even cares."

56 and I merely rolled our eyes as we floated past 35. "Control freak." Muttered 56.

"OCD." I said.

We all hurried out of the building and got to a safe distance across the reflecting pool. A few of us lingered to watch the fireworks. "Well, it is a little sad to see it being destroyed." Said 238, "But at least I got to see it."

"And it's about time we got to see a little action." Said 56, "I mean, it's been at least a month."

"But I still wish that-" Suddenly 238 stopped midsentence and said, "Hey, is that Megamind?"

"Where?" asked 56 and I.

"There, in front of the museum. What's he doing standing there; he only has five seconds, twelve milliseconds."

"Is he in the middle of another one of his grandiose speeches?" I said, in exasperation, as my ear sensors picked up the sounds of his voice, "Good grief, couldn't he have picked a better time?" I started back to the museum.

"147, where are you going back?" shouted 56, sounding a little worried.

"I am going to save Daddy, genius? What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You can't do that. You'll get burned to smithereens or smashed by a piece of the building."

"Well, then I'll be put back together. If you're so worried, than come with me."

I didn't stop to look back, but no sooner had I said it then 56 was beside me, and saying something about he couldn't let me go and do something crazy without being there to help me out of it.

The Museum exploded right on schedule, in a spectacle of fire, smoke and large pieces of concrete and rock raining down from the skies. Megamind had been in the middle of one of his fantastic speeches. He had completely forgotten about the museum. Megamind was a genius; I just sometimes wished that he didn't get carried away by his eloquence. That had gotten him into trouble on more occasions. This time, it would have gotten him dead.

He was scurrying around, trying to get away from the hailstorm of rock, with little success. Luckily, 56 and I managed to swoop in and grab him by the shoulders before he came to any permanent injury. We carried him to safety and put him gently in front of City Hall. It was only at that moment, that we saw that his face was a complete contrast to what we had seen in the museum just a few minutes before. Despite the momentary panic of being crushed to death by his own explosives, he seemed wildly excited, grinning from ear to ear and a light in his eyes that had not been there for, well, for far to long. "Ah, 56, 147, thank you. Of course, I would have managed to extract myself from that treacherous state, but still, your timely interference is greatly appreciated. Daddy is very proud of you." Then to our utter surprise he threw back his head and let loose a wild laugh of glee. He took both of us in his arms and gave us a big hug, "Oh, my dreadfully wonderful cyborgs, a new era has begun. Megamind will rise again. We'll show them, we'll show them all." With that, he let us go and dashed up the stairs to the City Hall.

56 and I stared after him, with open mouths. We looked at each other, we looked after Daddy, and then we looked at each other again. "Uh, what was that?" I asked.

"Search me," said 56, "What could have happened between five minutes ago when he was crying his eyes out and now when he's looking like he's on the brink of another break through?"

"I don't know." after a pause, I said, "And I don't really care. Whatever has happened, I'm just glad to see him back."

"So, am I." said 56, "Let's just hope that it will last."

* * *

Please read and review.

Next chapter: There is indeed a new plan brewing in Megamind's fertile brain. But things hit a snag when Roxanne shows up, and our little brain bot friends figure out that things are just a bit more complicated than they had at first thought.


	8. Eight

This chapter sort of got away from me, because I honestly wasn't expecting this chapter to be so long. But I just had so much fun writing it. I hope that you have fun reading it.

Eight:

By morning, the Metro Man Museum was nothing but a memory. There were reports all over the news about the overnight explosion, and it was painted, of course, to put Megamind in the worst possible light. That didn't really surprise me. In fact, I soon got so bored of hearing the same thing over and over again (the eulogizing of the dead hero, the horror of Megamind's reign, and how he had destroyed the one thing which reminded the city of its sainted hero, blah, blah, blah), that I just went off on my own to get some rest. I had had kind of a long night after all. I had served as confidant to Megamind and I had helped blow up the museum. I figured I deserved it.

Plus, I also wanted a little bit of time alone. Something that 238 had said the night before had made me begin to think about something that had never occurred to me before. He had wondered if I and 56 were trying to get some time alone for, I hated to even think it, romantic discussions. Before, the thought had seemed inconceivable to me. I mean, me and 56 had been best friends ever since the day we had been activated. We got on each other's nerves constantly and we fought a lot. But none of was it was ever taken seriously by either of us. What was more important was that we trusted each other with a lot of stuff. We told each other things that we couldn't tell anybody else. And I never had more fun then when I was doing things with him.

We were nothing terribly amazing when it came to matters of romance. In fact, we were pretty ordinary. I knew that I would never begin making doe eyes at any brain bot, not like 125 and 238. Those two were sweet, but that had never been my style.

So, was I actually in love with 56? I didn't know at the time. I mean, how was a brain bot supposed to know if he or she was in love? Could you be in love with someone and just be yourself with them? That was the only way I could ever describe myself with 56, and that was the way I preferred it.

My thoughts were going in something of a circle with this issue, and so I was sort of relieved when my mainframe decided it had had enough and just decided to shut down on its own.

It was morning by the time I woke up, and venturing out into the Lair, I could immediately sense the excitement which was humming just below the surface; I could hear various groups of brain bots murmuring excitedly amongst themselves in little groups. And I soon realized just what the source of that excitement was.

56 came whirling up to me, his glass dome sparking excitedly. "147, guess what? Megamind arrived back at the Lair this morning at dawn, and he's been at it ever since. I haven't seen him this pumped up since he defeated Metro Man. I thin he might actually be planning something."

"You're kidding?" I said, "That's great. Where is he? Can you tell what it is?"

"No, it seems to be still in the panning stages. But, he seems to be going all over the place with it. I'm telling you 147, it's like the good old days. Come on, you have to see this."

56 and I eagerly went flying thought the warehouse, where Megamind worked on all of his dastardly plans. Oh, if you were expecting some sort of tension between me and 56, well, that was sort of nonexistent at this point. I guess brain bots much room for angst in our relationships. I do admit that at this point I was beginning to feel the first feelings of romantic interest. But, instead of trying to figure out a way to tell him of my undying devotion, and spending endless hours agonizing over whether such an admission would destroy our friendship forever, I just felt a little more aware of all the things that made me appreciate him all the more. You want depressing angst? You might want to go read Wuthering Heights.

Megamind was an extremely well organized super villain, not in the fact that the warehouse was spick and span. Actually it was something of a mess, and not all of Minion's best efforts could ever make it completely clean. Rather Megamind was organized in that he had separate places in the warehouse itself to think of his schemes, plan his schemes, design his machines, build his machines, test his machines…. You get the idea.

The part of the Lair where Megamind planned for all of his inventions and schemes to take over the city was a room that was bathed in natural light from windows set high in the walls; they didn't offer much of a view, except for the sky. Not the most inspiring of views, but it seemed to stimulate Megamind's creative energy. The room was continually covered in sketches on the walls, books lying open on tables, chairs and the floor, and back-lit drawing tables. Strangest of all, were the pieces of paper that hung from pieces of string from the ceiling. These pieces of paper were everything from old pieces of newspaper, to brightly colored pieces that had been torn from magazines to random pictures that Megamind had either found in heaven knows where, or scribbled on himself. All of them together combined to create images that no one would have seen unless they had looked at it for hours on end, and then only once they stepped back to get the whole picture. For Megamind, the effect helped him to see all the things that were in his mind. And sometimes, one array of pictures could mean a dozen different things.

I couldn't tell as yet what the pictures were supposed to mean, but there was a lot of them. Considering that part of the Lair had been bare ever since Megamind defeated Metro Man, that indicated to me that Daddy had been very busy, which I was pretty sure was a good thing.

Several of the brain bots were already there, watching the events with evident interest. Watching Megamind work may not be everyone's idea of fun, but for us brain bots it was a chief source of entertainment. Maybe that was part of why Megamind created us, so that he would always have an audience of some sort. 56 and I hovered a little ways apart from them, so that we could get a good view of the proceedings. Megamind was hunched over one of the drawing, drawing, scribbling and writing furiously away at something which seemed to be either a giant, robotic machine of mayhem, or a demented version of King Kong, I really couldn't tell which.

Minion had just come in with the requisite coffee and doughnuts (sugar and caffeine seem to be the fuel which runs the human system. Megamind had picked it up), and he seemed to be looking at his master in speechless shock, as though Megamind had just said something which had caught him completely by surprise. That was certainly a new thing. Given the fact that Minion had been with Megamind even before any of us, he had seen way more crazy things then we could ever dream of. It must have taken something pretty astounding from Megamind to shock Minion into silence.

When he finally did speak, it was still heavy with disbelief. "Create a hero? Why?"

"So, I'll have someone to fight." Said Megamind, as if the answer should have been obvious, "I'm a villain with no hero, Minion, a yin with no yang, a bullfighter with no fighter to fight with…"

"He must be back in prime mode," I said, "He's starting to come up with a hundred metaphors describing one thing."

"Yeah, we all know he's got that down to an art form." Said 56, "Only lately the metaphors have all been pretty lame. I think that this is a good sign."

Megamind was practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Now, ask me how I'm going to do it," he told Minion, eagerly, "Come on, ask me?"

Minion sighed in resignation. "How are you going to do it?" He said, with rather bland enthusiasm. I have to admit that I sometimes felt sorry for Minion when Megamind went into one of his creative rants, which could go on for hours at a time. It wasn't explaining the plan which made them so long. Those could normally have been summed up in fifteen minutes. Rather, it was Megamind constantly congratulating himself on how clever he was, and expecting Minion to say the same thing. I could understand why it could sometimes be a little boring in the extreme.

However, Megamind never really heard Minion's boredom. He was on a roll, and he had received all the invitation he needed. "I'm going to give someone, I don't know who yet, Metro Man's powers. I'm going to train that someone to become Metrosity's new hero. I will then fight that hero in an epic conflict of good and evil. Then everything will be normal again, like it used to be, when the world was perfect and rosy." This entire speech was said while Megamind was hoping up on ladders, pushing around all over the place, pointing out different pictures to Minion, whipping the covers off of paintings that showed him in the demented King Kong robot battling with an as yet unknown hero and then dismounting from the ladder with a flourish. I could have gotten exhausting just watching him.

"Did you get all that?" I asked 56.

"I think so. Don't ask me to explain it to you."

"Don't worry; I think that this might be beyond even us."

Megamind grabbed Minion by the arm and pulled him over to one of the drawing boards, which had on it a very familiar piece of white fabric. 56 and I looked at it. "Is that-" I asked.

"Yeah, Metro Man's cape. I would have recognized it anywhere. Where did he get it?"

"Search me. Maybe he wanted a memento of his exploits or something. You know how many of Metro Man's fan girls would see for a just a scrap of that?"

"Hey, let's grab some and sell it on eBay." I looked at him, "Or not."

Megamind confirmed that it was indeed Metro Man's former heroic attire. He then held a magnifier up to the cape and said, "Look closely, what do you see?"

"Dandruff?" questioned Minion, uncertainly.

"Whoa, Metro Man had dandruff," said 56, "He was actually mortal."

"Who would have thought?" I commented.

Megamind let loose a wicked laugh of glee when he heard what Minion said, "Yes, it's his DNA. From this, we'll extract the source of Metro Man's awesome power."

Megamind scurried from the room and into another outlet of the Lair, where there was a big hulking machine which did something or other to a destructive, evil purpose. I don't know what half of the machines in the Lair are supposed to do. I'm only a carrier, not a technical whiz. The machine started whizzing, sparking and smoking. It also produced a terrible cacophony of rasping, clonking and banging. I could hardly hear myself think, and I could barely hear the voices of Minion and Megamind over the raucous.

"I don't think that Minion is into this plan all that much." said 56, shouting to be heard over the din, "He sounds pretty worried."

I listened for a moment, and I could make out the words "bad idea" repeated more than once. "That can't be a good sign. Whenever Minion thinks that a plan is bad, it will inevitably fail. Of course, they all fail, but when Minion says it will fail than it fails big time."

"Yeah, even I have to agree with you there." Said 56, and when he admitted to something like that, than that meant something rather serious.

We didn't have time to discuss why this would have been a bad idea, though that particular idea was put on the back burner. Our attention at that moment just happened to be caught by one of the look-out brain bots, 433, shouting down to the rest of us from his perch by one of the windows. "Hey, everyone, heads up, intruder coming in at 12:00."

"It's not 12:00, 433." Said 56, "It's ten after one"

"That is such an old joke." I said.

"I know, that's why it's a classic."

"Or a cliché." I replied, "Come on, who could possibly want to invade Megamind' personal sanctum?"

"Police, FBI, Fire Department, Hazmat, you know the usual. Of course, I've never known them to come poking around here."

"Reason is because they're scared to death of him. You know how many things he's done to scare them away. I wonder who could be braving the wrath of Megamind."

56 and I hurried over to one of the monitors, which were garnering a lot of attention in the face of 433's announcement. What we saw was a white van with the words KCMP News Channel 8 emblazoned on the door. It had pulled up in front of the building and two people were getting out. One was a heavyset man who looked to be in his late twenties. To be quite frank, he was one of the most unattractive male specimens of the human race that I had ever beheld. His hair was greasy and stringy, his eyes were small and squinty, and he had a big bulbous nose. He was one of those people who just struck me as being creepy, whether he intended to be or not.

The other person was Roxanne Ritchi. And that was the part which really surprised me. "What's she doing here?" I said, "She's not supposed to know where our secret hide out is. How on earth did she find it?"

"How should I know?" said 56, "You think Megamind-"

"Oh, great." I said, "This is not going to make him happy. Come on, we have to find him."

We separated ourselves from the rest of the brain bots, and flew over to where Megamind and Minion were standing. We were joined by 125 and 238, tendril in tendril. "Hey, guys, did you see that?" asked 238, "Roxanne Ritchi is here."

"Without being kidnapped," said 125, "That's got to be a first."

"Yeah, we have to warn Megamind." I said, "So that he can, well, do whatever he is he can think of doing."

We had arrived to Megamind and Minion, but before we could warn the two of what was happening, a strange noise cut through the air. We all yipped in shock and looked around. "What was that? Some sort of time bomb?" asked 56.

"No, unless a time bomb is using that song for its alarm." I said, "Relax, it's just a cell phone."

Megamind was also mystified as to the source of the sound. But, with the help of Minion, he eventually withdrew a cell phone from his pocket. It was quite clear that he had never answered one of them before. Not surprising when you considered that Megamind's contact with the outside world was pretty much nil.

"Ollo." He said, into the phone uncertainly.

"It's hello." Ventured Minion.

"Oh, right, hello." Then he looked at Minion, as if making sure he had said the right thing. "Like that?" minion nodded and shot him a thumbs' up.

Roxanne's voice ventured through the speaker on the phone. She sounded very excited. "Hey, it's Roxanne. I just wanted to thank you for inspiring me the other night."

Megamind laughed, no, he giggled, in what could only be a light-hearted manner. He looked like a giddy school child. "Well, you're welcome. You inspired me, too."

"It's time we stood up to Megamind and show him he can't push us around anymore."

"Oh, really?" said Megamind, who seemed to get quite a kick out of this. He then looked at Minion and said, almost affectionately, "She's so cute."

"I'm already hot on his trail."

"What makes you think that?"

"I just found his secret hideout!" squealed Roxanne excitedly.

"Well, now he knows." Said 56.

Megamind's eyes went wide and he suddenly saw Roxanne standing outside of his Lair on the monitor. "How did she find my hideout?" He demanded, rather loudly. Realizing that might tip Roxanne off, he quickly lowered his voice and said, "I mean, how did you find his hideout."

"This is the only building in Metro City that has an abandoned observatory on the roof."

We all looked at each other. "Oops." Said 238, "We were probably supposed to take that down."

Megamind seemed to have lost for his confidence for a moment, but then recovered when he remembered that Roxanne would never find the secret entrance. That hope was pretty much dashed the next moment when Roxanne discovered that there was a door mat next to one of the holographic walls that had "secret entrance" written on it.

When he heard this, Megamind's face bright purple with indignant anger and he turned on Minion, who had been trying, unsuccessfully, to slip away into the shadows. "Minion!" he said, accusingly.

"I kept forgetting where it was." Said Minion, looking rather abashed.

"Minion, you dimwitted creation of science." While he was saying this, he hustled Minion into a large box and slammed the door with a resounding clang. He then hurried over to the idea room and pulled a large red curtain across the area so that it became visible to sight. He babbled something into the phone, hung up and then vanished.

He hadn't seen the four of us, and so we were left just floating randomly in space. "Now what do we do?" asked 238.

"We blend in with the décor?" suggested 125, "Megamind didn't give us anything else to do."

"Did anyone else hear Roxanne call Daddy Bernard?" asked 56.

"That guy in the museum last night?" I asked, "What interest could Daddy have in him and why is Roxanne calling him that?"

"Well, one thing is for sure, she wouldn't be calling Megamind directly just for the sake of a chat."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, 56." I said, "That is of no use to this conversation, but your opinion has been duly noted."

"Hey, guys, look. There's Roxanne." We all turned to see Roxanne had just come into the main room of the Lair, and she was looking around her in evident wonder. She had never seen Megamind's Lair, because she was always unconscious, bound and had a bag over her head.

Suddenly from out of nowhere, the guy we had seen the other night appeared right beside Roxanne. She let out a gasp, but that turned to relief when she saw Bernard. They obviously weren't aware that Megamind was somewhere, hovering threateningly in the shadows. This made me wonder where the heck he was. Unless he was waiting for the right moment, but when the two started to progress deeper into the Lair and Roxanne drew aside the curtain to reveal the storeroom of Megamind's ideas, I began to wonder what was going on.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one. "Where's Daddy?" questioned 56, "Shouldn't he be making a threatening appearance right now, with fire and smoke and a few explosions."

"This is an unforeseen course of action for Megamind." Said 238, "He would have made some kind of move by now. We all know how protective he is of his secrets. He's always worried that someone will try and steal them before he can get the patent on them secured."

It must be admitted however, that Bernard did not seem particularly excited about this whole thing. In fact, he seemed more than a little tense. In fact, when he spoke, I couldn't shake the feeling that it sounded oddly familiar. But before, I could bring this up; the brain bots received the signal of an intruder in the Lair. "Finally." Said 56, even if we were not specifically in charge of that detail. Megamind had designed another squad of brain bots for that, but 56 was probably just relieved that Daddy had finally done something.

From a hidden compartment high up in the wall, a swarm of two dozen brain bots descended upon the hapless Bernard and Roxanne. Roxanne let loose a surprised gasp and managed to scramble out of the way just in time. Bernard, however, was not so lucky. The brain bots swooped him up (ignoring his loud protests, of course), and began carrying him off to, well, Megamind would have liked to say against pit of slime where they would be thrown into and their bones rotting for all eternity. Truth be told, the patrol bots were programmed to just take any intruder outside and dump them in the bay, on the shallow end, of course, so that they could get out. The patrol bots had never gotten a chance to try this out, so they were pretty excited. We foursome of brain bots followed the others, anxious to not catch the show since we had been left behind.

And it was only then that everything started to make sense. For no sooner had the patrol bots carried him two hundred feet down the hallway then there was a flash of white light and to our complete and utter surprise, the brain bots were no longer carrying Bernard, but…

"It's Daddy!" said Megamind, in extreme annoyance at having been the victim of his own brain bots. The brain bots instantly let go of him and retreated, whirring in confusion.

They thought they were confused, we were even more so. "Did Bernard just turn into Daddy?" asked 238, "How did that happen?"

"Look guys, he's wearing the watch." said 56, his seeker senses beeping and clicking, "He must have scanned Bernard into his database."

"But why the heck would he even want to be someone like Bernard?" I asked, "Why would he be helping Roxanne sabotage his own plans? None of this is making any sense, even less so than normal."

Indeed, none of us had any clue what was going on. Our confusion was compounded even more when Roxanne, who had been off somewhere and had managed to come across a big gun. She gasped when she saw Megamind, but her expression grew suddenly dark and she asked in a cold voice. "Megamind, what have you done with Bernard?"

Megamind, who was just getting over being dumped on the hard concrete by his brain bots, only just managed to keep his threatening demeanor. "Bernard? Oh, yes, I'm doing horrible things to that man. I don't want to get into it, but lasers, spikes…" He suddenly opened a door in the hallway and shouted into it, mimicking Bernard's voice, "Oh, please no, not the lasers and the spikes." Back to Megamind and Roxanne, "You know the drill." Back to the door and the distressed Bernard. "Oh, no, not the drill. AHHH!"

The rest of us had managed to sneak up and were hovering only a few feet away in the shadows, watching and listening to the whole thing. We also had a good view of the room into which Megamind was shouting. "Why is Daddy shouting into an empty coat closet?" said 125.

"Well, it's obvious." Said 56.

A pause and I said, "Okay, genius, what's the answer?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Said 56, after a moment.

Roxanne, however, was buying it. "Let him go, or I'll…"

"You'll what?" said Megamind with almost dark amusement. But his cocky look faded when he saw Roxanne hefting the gun with a look that clearly meant business.

"Or I'm going to find out what this funny looking gun does."

Megamind suddenly started to panic. "No, don't shoot that gun. I'll just go get him." He swiftly opened the door to the empty coat closet. There was a sound of a scuffle inside and then the door burst open and Bernard appeared; only it was really Megamind disguised as Bernard pretending to fight himself. "Unhand me, you fiend. You see his strength's too much." The door slammed shut again. Then out came Megamind with Bernard's seemingly twisted around his body. "I work out." Door slammed shut once more. Megamind as Bernard appeared, still valiantly struggling to win a fight against himself. "It's really paying off, you're so fit and strangely charismatic."

If you were confused by just the description, think how we brain bots felt who had no idea why Megamind would be pulling this silly charade. We were still trying to piece together everything when at last; the door flew open for the last time and out soared Bernard, who was really Megamind. He looked shaken and distressed. Roxanne hurried over to him and asked if he was all right. Bernard, almost ashamed, said that he had tried to do his best but Megamind was simply too fantastic. "You'd think if he were fighting against himself he would have actually shown himself coming out on top." Said 56, who almost sounded disappointed.

"That would have been a logical way to get rid of Bernard." I said, "Why is he even pretending?"

"Search me." said 56, "I've never known him to act like this before. What do you two think?"

"I know that Megamind always tries to act in a logical manner." Said 238, "It's normally his own twisted form of logic and it wouldn't make sense to anyone but him, but he still has it. Why else would he plan for all of his escapes from prison beforehand?"

"I'm not sure that I can see anything logical in this, whatever you might say 238." Said 125, "I've never seen Megamind pretend to be anyone but himself, and certainly not to Roxanne."

A few more minutes of this debate passed before a loud explosion rocked the very foundations of the warehouse. "What the heck was that?" said 56.

"I don't know, it sounded like a bomb going off." I said, "What do you think it was?"

A group of dizzy, half-mangled brain bots suddenly limped into view, some of them saying that they were hearing strokes squawking Waltzing Matilda and others that they were seeing pink elephants and blue crocodile dancing together. We watched them pass in slight bemusement. "Uh, what is that?" asked 125.

"Must be the after shock of the explosion." Said 56, "They'll feel better in a few hours. But just between the four of us, I would like to know what made Megamind throw a stick of dynamite as it his own brain bots."

"Well, I'm sure it wasn't his first choice, but I would like to know that and a lot of other things." I said.

"Any of you doing anything tonight?" asked 56, "I think we should do a little investigating."

"Oh, I love a good mystery." Said 125, "Count me in."

"I'll be there." Said 238, "You might need some help with the logic portion of the questions."

"Then, it's settled. See you all at midnight in the fake observatory. All the stuff is still there and we might as well make use of it."

We all agreed to meet at the time. Little did we know what we would be finding out.

* * *

Please read and review.

Next chapter: Our interpid foursome will do a little bit of investigating as they try to piece together the puzzle of what is happening. But not even they could have known the secrests which their master has been hiding for so long.


	9. Nine

Nine:

That night, as agreed, we had all gathered in the fake observatory on top of the warehouse. The strange mystery surrounding what had happened that day in the warehouse had not been explained. If anything, it had only begun to grow. Almost immediately after Roxanne had left, Megamind (now not in disguise as Bernard), and Minion had left in the invisible car. 56, his curiosity peaked, had actually followed them, taking care to stay out sight. Imagine his surprise when he found himself in one of the tougher parts of town. It had turned out to be the home of Roxanne's camera man, the slightly disturbing guy that had been with her at the lair. His name was Hal Stewart. But that was pretty much all the information that 56 had been able to get on his own.

Then, when Megamind and Minion had returned home, they had ordered the brain bots to secure, of all places, the Metro City basketball court. He still seemed very excited, he didn't stay still all the rest of that day, designing more machines and plans which he said he would execute when the new hero would rise and he would be the villain that battled with him again. Even Minion seemed to be getting into the spirit of things, though he was not nearly so fired by the prospect as Megamind. He was even starting to design a new cape ensemble for Megamind.

We were, of course, happy to see Daddy in such high spirits, but at the same time, something didn't seem right to the four of us. If you had asked us at the time, we might have been hard-pressed to say just what it was that was disturbing us. Even 56 was a little suspicious of things, and that was saying something.

Although, why he then needed to think that he was in charge of this little investigation I have no idea. He arrived before any of us, and when we did get there, he was whirring back and forth across the observatory, looking for all the world like a Sergeant Major getting ready to inspect his troops. "Right, there you all are. It took you long enough." He said once he had seen us, "Now are we all here?"

I looked around. "Uh, gee, there are four of us and the four of us agreed to come, so yes, I think we're all here."

"Hmm, but we can never be too sure. Maybe I should call the roll."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, 56. You know who all is here."

"But what if someone isn't here who is supposed to be here?"

"Okay, fine," I turned to the rest of the room, and said in a loud voice. "Anyone who is not here and should be, please speak up now."

"147, this is not helping." Said 125.

"Well, then maybe he should have suggested something that should have helped." I said, gesturing to 56.

"I vote that we have someone take note of who is not here," said 238, "then it can be recorded. Unless, the person who is supposed to take note of who not here is themselves not here. In which case, someone should make note of that too."

We all stared at him blankly. "You're not serious, are you?" asked 56.

"No, of course I'm not." Said 238, "I'm only trying to point out to you that we're wasting time because the two of you are arguing like this. Now 56, you stop acting like Sherlock Homes and 147, you stop baiting him. Come on, guys, 125 and I could be having a date right now. Could you please stop arguing and could we focus on what we came here for?"

56 and I looked at each other, and after a moment, 56 said, "Oh, all right. I was only trying to make sure that we covered all the bases."

"Hey, I get it." said 147, "And I didn't mean to offend you, but there really isn't a reason to make this into by the book. We're not even doing things by the book in the first place. For one thing, I don't think that we're technically supposed to be spying on Daddy for our own purposes."

"Hey, we're programmed to be pro-active. That's why we're so useful to Daddy." Said 56, "No reason why we can't for ourselves every once and awhile."

"Guess you have a point there." Said 238, "But how do we fit all the pieces together."

"If I may interject the opinion of someone who has to put together Megamind's costumes," said 125, "it's hard to put together one of his outfits when the pieces are not accounted for."

"Meaning what exactly?" said 56.

"Meaning that we need to know what all the pieces to this situation are." Said 125, "They have to be connected somehow, but one missing link in the chain could ruin everything. Once we know what all the pieces than we can start putting them together."

"Whoa, 125, you're a genius." Said 238, in apparent awe of his girlfriend's logic. I could just see that he was adding that to the list of no doubt hundreds of things that he liked about her.

"That makes a lot of sense actually." Said 56, "Even if you did start with an analogy based on clothing. So, what are the pieces?"

"Roxanne, definitely." I said, "Hardly a surprise, she would have to be tied in with Megamind somehow."

"And then, of course, there is this whole thing with Megamind pretending to be someone else around her." said 56, "He's never done that before. I think we all know that Daddy is very proud of his reputation, and he doesn't want anyone but himself taking credit for what he does. Why is he hiding behind Bernard now?"

"Who the heck is Bernard anyway?" I asked, "I mean, besides being the curator of the Metro Man Museum, which isn't saying much in terms of impressing other people."

"Well, I did a little research on him," said 238, "He's actually kind of neat guy."

"Neat? He certainly didn't look neat when we saw him last night. He looked like he was about to drop dead."

"That was late at night and he just wanted to get everyone out of his museum so he could go home. Okay, so from what I have found out, he's not exactly the most out-going of people, but that doesn't automatically make him boring. He's quite brilliant, actually, and people do sometimes tend to associate intelligence with being boring."

"That's never been a problem with you," said 56, "most of the time."

"Don't listen to him, 238." Said 125, "I think it's one of your most attractive qualities."

238 was momentarily tongue-tied by 125's praise, and I'm pretty sure he would have started blushing if he had had a circulation system. "Right, so you were saying about Bernard?" I prompted after a moment of silence.

"Oh, uh, yeah, right. Anyway, he graduated top of his class from Dartmouth, with a double major in science and astronomy. He's written a lot about Megamind and Metro Man, among other subjects, and is even set to release a book on Megamind some time next year. He turned down an offer from NASA to come and work in their space program and has been living her for the past two years. Anyway, that's sort of Bernard in a nut-shell, you might need to give me a few more days to find out about his home life, friends, credit scoring and whether he prefers chocolate or vanilla."

"Well, that is all very interesting." Said 56, "At least we know that Megamind isn't impersonating a nitwit. That would be a stain on his reputation which no amount of time could remove. What about Roxanne's cameraman, the Hal Stewart guy?"

"Couldn't find anything about him." said 238, "Except that he's a nobody who hasn't accomplished anything and isn't likely too. You saw him, what was your impression of him?"

"In a word, he's a slob, in everything. His apartment is a mess, he's a mess, and I won't get into his clothes because 125 would probably have a short out."

"I saw enough to give me several nightmares, thank you. Well, I think we have all the pieces, Megamind, Roxanne, Megamind as Bernard and Hal. The only question is, how do they all fit together?"

We all stared at each other for several minutes. "Well, anybody have any ideas?" I finally asked, "We don't seem to be getting anywhere."

"I'm drawing a blank." Said 56, who looked like he hated to admit it.

"If we can't come up with anything, then a lot of good this little session has done." Said 238.

"Come on, we can't give up now." I said, "I for one am not going half way without figuring at least something out."

"It might surprise you to know how very close you are to solving the riddle. You just need a little bit more information."

The announcement of a voice from behind us caused all of us to nearly jump out of circuitry. We had been so caught up in our conversation that we hadn't noticed that 1 had floated up into the observatory and was now watching us in amusement.

For a moment, none of us really knew what to say. We weren't sure what 1 would think of us, up here in the observatory, and having a secret talk about the activities of our Master. Okay, so it wasn't exactly a secret that we brain bots liked to hover around and gossip about Daddy's activities. Still, we normally didn't do it in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep. Plus, judging from 1's amused reaction, I was pretty sure that she had been there for awhile. Let's face it; our discourse had not exactly been amazing. We were clearly not meant to be detective bots.

Anyway, 1 came hovering towards us and said, "Well, it sounds as though you have had a busy evening. Have you had fun?"

"Um, well, this wasn't really meant to be fun." Said 238, "But I really don't think we've gotten anywhere."

"Hey, could you help us?" said 56, "You know Megamind better than any of us."

1 seemed to consider this for a moment, as though contemplating the morality of disclosing some of Megamind's secrets. But, she finally said, "Well, I suppose if you are this close to the answer already, helping you the rest of the way won't hurt."

"You mean we are close?" 238 asked, "That sounds unlikely."

"I can tell you that I don't have all the answers. What I can tell you is that it is not actually so strange that Megamind should want to impersonate someone like Bernard."

"Why is that?"

"The first thing that you should know is that Megamind actually knew Bernard."

We all stared at 1 in surprise. "Wait, he knew him?" said 56, "As in was actually on speaking terms with someone. I thought that all of the citizens of Metro City would have run screaming from Megamind at the first sight of him, let alone stopped to chat with him."

"They weren't friends that met for coffee and a chat, that is certain." Said 1, "But have you never wondered how Megamind managed to keep abreast of details in the outside world? It certainly wasn't just through the news. It is also a super villain tradition to have someone on the outside of the corporation to further aid in their nefarious schemes. I believe that they are called lackeys. They're normally brilliant weaklings who are kept in constant fear of retribution by the bad guys if they don't do what they don't do exactly what they are told. Megamind never really treated Bernard like that. I don't think they were what you would call bosom pals, but Megamind respected Bernard, and I do think that Bernard respected him."

"So, Megamind got someone to help him keep on track of the outside world." said 125, "What did Bernard get out of it?"

"Why, an inside source for Megamind and Metro Man." said 1, "Bernard was able to get both sides of the story. That's where he's gotten all of his information on Megamind in his articles and books. Megamind certainly didn't mind that. He loves the extra attention. And, of course, Bernard is always certain to say nothing definite about where he got his research."

"And no one has ever suspected that Bernard and Megamind had this little agreement."

"No, Bernard was rather more cautious in that respect that Megamind. He was almost paranoid that no one find out about it. It was out of concern for Megamind's safety, really. He was always afraid that if anyone found out, they could somehow use his connection with Megamind to bring harm to him."

"But, wait, if Bernard knew Megamind, then why did he pretend that he didn't know Megamind at the museum last night?" asked 238, "I managed to find the last few minutes of security footage from the museum last night. Bernard ran into Megamind on his side of the balcony. He acted like he didn't know him, even said that Megamind's head was bigger than it actually was."

"Maybe he believed that there was someone else in the museum who might have overheard him." said 1, "Did you see anyone else there last night when you were destroying it."

"Well, we saw Roxanne, but we thought that she had had left." Said 56.

"That would explain something." Said 238, "Maybe Roxanne got wind of the fact that she wasn't alone. Megamind could have been afraid of being spotted."

"And let's face it, Megamind wouldn't want Roxanne to see him the things he sleeps in." I said. "Now that you mention it, I did see something like a flash of blue light last night, but I didn't think of it until now. Did Megamind dehydrate Bernard and impersonate him so that Roxanne wouldn't be any the wiser?"

"That would be a logical explanation." said 1, "I'm afraid that, even if Megamind knew Bernard, that wouldn't be enough for him to escape at his expense. But, once he gets around to rehydrating him, there shouldn't be any hard feelings lost between them."

"But that still leaves one thing I don't understand." I said, "Assuming that Daddy actually used Bernard as an excuse to escape detection by Roxanne, why keep up the charade? Why was he still pretending to be Bernard this afternoon when there was no real need to?"

1 seemed to cock her head. "You cannot guess?" We must have all looked at her blankly, because at the time, the answer was lost on us. "There was one other reason why Megamind kept in contact with Bernard. In a way, I believe he was jealous of him."

"Daddy, jealous of someone like Bernard?" said 56, "1, are you serious? What could Bernard have that would make Daddy jealous at all?"

"Let us just say that I think some part of Megamind has always wondered what it would be like to live a normal life. And Bernard, for all that he was connected with Megamind, was a fairly normal person."

"But, Bernard, he's so, so…"

"Ordinary?" I supplied.

"Yeah, that's it ordinary. And Megamind has never wanted to be ordinary." 1 merely stared at him like a mother does affectionately to a young child who thinks that he knows everything, when really he has no idea what he is talking about. 56 recognized the look and said, after a moment with less certainty, "Well, he has, hasn't he?"

"56, you might want to consider that it is perhaps Bernard's very ordinariness which makes Megamind want to see what it is like to be him, even for awhile."

"So you think he might continue being Bernard, just to get a taste of a normal life?" I asked.

"That, and maybe a few other reasons. I won't say anymore, for it is not my place to speculate. Only, try to watch Megamind over the next few weeks. You have my permission to look for him. You might see things about him that you never thought of before. Now, I do think that you have made enough progress for tonight. You should all probably get some rest."

1 was as good as a mother in getting off to our rechargers at night. We all duly obeyed, though we all said that this case was by no means over. We still had the whole issue with Hal Stewart to go over. It seemed that this mystery was going to be a little tougher than we thought it would be. That was okay. If there was anything we brain bots loved, it was a good puzzle.

As 125 and 238 hovered off, 56 and I went over to a corner of the warehouse to rest up for tomorrow. "You know," said 56, right before we fell asleep, "you were really great back there."

"What I didn't do much. I just kept you in line and going all over the place."

"You have to do that a lot with me, don't you?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. I don't mind. In fact, I rather enjoy it. It's part of what gives your charm."

"Well, not many other brain bots would see it in the same way, so I thank you. I just want you to know that I, um, well, I appreciate it. And I'm glad that you're willing to put up with me."

I couldn't get over the fact that 56 was paying me a compliment, and that he looked rather adorable while he was doing it. Of course, he had to ruin the moment completely when he said, "Of course, that's not to imply that I make a lot of mistakes. In fact, as brain bots go, I have one of the best records for never messing up. But on the rare occasion when I do mess up, I'm just glad that you are there to tell me."

"Well, in that case, please stop your bragging, because that brings down your perfection factor."

"See, that's exactly what I'm saying. You're so perceptive that you see things even when they aren't there." I stared at him, and cocked my head in slight confusion. "Okay, that didn't really make any sense."

"No, it didn't. Look, why don't you just stop talking before you say something to really embarrass yourself and we'll continue this conversation in the morning."

"Well, whatever you say, I was only saying-"

"56, shut up and go to sleep."

"All right, all right."

For a few minutes there was silence, and then 56 said in a slightly softer tone of voice. "Good night, 147."

In the dark, I smiled to myself. "Good night, 56."

And with that we settled down to our respective dreams.

* * *

Please, read and review.

Next chapter: Events on multiple fronts begin unfolding in ways that not even the brain bots expected. From the training of a new hero to a blossoming love affair between the two most unlikely people imaginable, mirrored by two brain bots, things could not be more compliacated. But they are, because Megamind is starting to act even more strangely, in fact, he is almost acting like a *Gasp* good guy.


	10. Ten

Ten:

I did say that the mystery had only just begun, didn't I? If anything, that was an understatement. In fact, the things that we discussed that evening in the fake observatory was only scratching the surface of an event which would change all our lives forever.

We thought Megamind had been acting strange? Well, that was nothing compared to the way he started behaving over the next few weeks, doing the complete opposite of what we had come to expect of him as a villain. Impersonating Bernard? Only the beginning of what we observed as spending a lot of time with Roxanne in a way that he never had before. Hal Stewart? Don't even get me started. That turned out to be the worst.

But I seem to be getting ahead of myself. It turns out that all these things were related in some way or another, and it's difficult to understand their full experience unless told that way. So, let me start from the beginning.

1 had said that we could follow Daddy over the next few weeks, so that is exactly what we did, the four of us. Well, actually, it turned out to be me and 56 on our own a lot and 238 and 125 together a lot. We all met regularly whenever we had a spare moment to compare notes. The story we were getting was both strange and fascinating, for we basically began to see a side of our master that we had never seen before.

The first sign that we had came from 125 and 238 themselves. They had sneakily followed Daddy to the Metro City Basketball Court, where what they reported they had observed 56 and I didn't almost believe. Megamind, in yet another disguise, appeared to be training Hal. Megamind had adopted the disguise of a man who was about 4' 7", in a blue and silver tunic, and a hair style which resembled an ice cream sundae. Minion was in disguise too, though it only consisted of a blond, curly wig and an apron which said "kiss the cook" on it. Minion sometimes isn't the most creative when it comes to his own disguises. Probably because he's a fish and he doesn't wear clothes anyway. When we saw what the two of them were disguised as, we almost broke down laughing, but any giggles we had were quickly shut up, when we heard what those two were actually doing in such outlandish disguises.

Apparently, as far as 125 and 238 could determine, Megamind and Minion were training this Stewart guy to be Metro City's new hero. Hal now had Metro Man's powers, and it suddenly made sense what Megamind had been doing with the former superhero's DNA. Problem was Hal Stewart seemed totally childish when it came to matters of serious heroic training. It was as if he only wanted to play around and he was hopelessly clumsy. We couldn't figure out why Megamind would have chosen him. We all figured that a criminal genius would have been a bit more discerning when it came to choosing an opponent. We didn't know at the time that it had all been an accident of fortune.

So, there was that whole piece of the puzzle, which was still frankly a little confusing for us. As for 56 and I, we got the task of following Megamind around whenever he went out in his disguise as Bernard, which turned out to be very often. There were many dates in those weeks, but there are a few that really stand out, and that's what I think is the most important for people to understand, because out of them would come another realization of what the feelings were the 56 and I had for each other.

* * *

The first date which comes to mind had its beginning after what appeared to be a rather rough training session with the dimwit hero in training.

"Flying lessons." Explained 238, as 125 was down below treating some of the injuries that Megamind had sustained. "Hal Stewart doesn't seem to have a very good idea of up and down. He flew through a billboard today."

"So, that's where the big hole in the Metro Man toothpaste advertisement came from." I remarked, "Metro Man actually looked better with a one out."

"Yeah, anyway, I do think that Megamind is going to have to change his strategy if he wants to get him ready on schedule for the big fight."

Before either of us could respond, we heard the familiar ring of Roxanne's cell phone. Megamind (stealing a glance at Minion, who was blathering on about something or other), and quickly opened the phone to reveal a text message from Roxanne. _Meet at Library?_It said. Megamind, a rather goofy smile appearing on his face, quickly texted back, _"Can't wait. LOL. Smiley face."_

"Well, that's you." said 238, to the two of us. "You're the ones who are in charge of seeing how Roxanne and Megamind are interacting together. It might be good for you to see how a little romance works. It should give you an idea of how to behave around each other."

"238, would you stop saying things like that." I said, perhaps a bit too quickly.

"Yeah," said 56, "I mean, we don't need any pointers about we're supposed to act with each other. What makes you think we would need to?"

"Oh, no reason." Said 238, in such a thoroughly innocent manner that it was perfectly infuriating.

At the very least, getting out of the Lair was a chance to get away from his annoying hints. We did follow to Megamind, now in his disguise as Bernard, to the library. Of course, we didn't go into the library. However, we did manage to stake out a spot by one of the mirrors. Thanks to the fact that Megamind had built supersonic hearing sensors into our circuitry, a little thing like a few inches of glass was not enough to keep us from hearing what went on inside.

Ostensibly, Roxanne said she was there because she would like Bernard's input on Megamind. There had been a lot of books written about Megamind, but she didn't know how much was fact and how much was fiction. She thought Bernard might be able to help her. If they could figure out Megamind's motivation from years past, maybe it would give them some clue as to how he would react now.

However, it didn't take them long to stop talking about Megamind and about, well, all sorts of other things. You'd think that since Megamind was an evil, criminal genius he wouldn't have much time for anything else but planning his next diabolical scheme. However, Megamind had also been of the school of thought that said it was imperative that evil criminal geniuses be well read and know about a myriad of different subjects. So, while his social graces were somewhat lacking and he did have trouble pronouncing certain words, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Megamind was perfectly capable of carrying on a rational conversation, the problem was, he just didn't get a lot of practice.

"You know, if I didn't any better," said 56, after about half an hour, "I would say that Master was enjoying himself almost too much."

"Yeah, whoever would have thought that being Bernard would reveal a whole new side to his character?" I said, "I don't think that I've seen him like this, even at the height of one of his evil schemes."

Megamind was telling Roxanne a particularly funny story, and we couldn't really hear every word, but Roxanne seemed to be getting an absolute hit out of it.

"That was such a funny story," said Megamind when the story had ended, and the two of them appeared to have been laughing so hard that their sides had hurt, "and brilliantly told."

Roxanne was smiling, no she was beaming. The glow coming off of her would have been enough to power ten brain bots easily. "Bernard, I had no idea you were so funny."

"And I've never heard you laugh before." said Megamind, in an almost soft tone of voice.

"Yeah, I know, it's been awhile. It's nice." The two of them seemed a little embarrassed that they had gotten so carried away in their excitement with each other.

We looked at each other. "People who like each other like to laugh with each other, right?" said 56.

"Yeah, I guess. How would you have experience in something like that?"

"Well, come on, its common knowledge. All I'm saying is that Megamind and Roxanne…" He stopped, before he finally admitted. "I really don't know how to finish that. You don't think?"

I didn't respond, but what 56 was saying had certainly caught my attention. That was the beginning of a suspicion, that perhaps Megamind and Roxanne's relationship was turning into something more than that of super villain and damsel in distress, and that it might be growing into something more. And what we observed over the next few days of Megamind's behavior, would only begin to confirm that idea.

* * *

"Oh, brain bots, brain bots, come to Daddy." Megamind's voice caused several of us to gather around him, barking excitedly. We could tell by the gleam in his eye that he had an important job in store for us. As 56 and I knew that he had been on a date with Roxanne just an hour earlier, we couldn't help but think that this mission had something to do with that.

"I have a very important job for you. I think you are all aware of the fact that the city has become somewhat dirty of late." We all nodded. That was hardly a secret, during his brief reign of terror, Megamind had taken a perverse delight in dumping over trash cans and dumpsters all over the world and scattering the garbage all over the streets. "Well, I want you to start cleaning up the streets. Some of you start in Metrosity Park tonight and others start working on the Riverfront. Minion and I are going to work on the streets themselves."

We all stared at him in slight surprise and puzzlement. Some of the younger ones looked at each other in such a manner that made it clear that they were wondering if they had even heard that right. "Now, I'm not expecting you to get everything finished in one night, but surely after a few nights you can get everything all nice and clean again. After all, we want to keep being green, in the interest of the planet and so forth. Now, run along and make Daddy proud."

The brain bots hovered away, some of them beeping and questioning amongst themselves in puzzlement. 56 and I, however, had a pretty good idea what was going on. "Megamind did go on a date with Roxanne today." I said.

"And they did go to the park." Said 56, "I guess he wants to make the park clean for Roxanne so that he can actually feel better about taking her there."

"Maybe." I said.

That night, a group of about twenty of us headed off for Metro City park, some of them weren't very enthusiastic about the idea of cleaning when destruction (however harmless), had been the bulk of their entertainment for most of their lives.

Megamind had fitted some of us with what looked like blue, plastic recycling bins. In actuality, they were some sort of nifty device that would turn the trash into little blue, dehydrated cubes that would be easily disposed of later on. At the park, we began to pick up the scattered pieces of paper, fast food wrappings, banana peels and the other evidence of human waste which is accumulated in a city of any size. Luckily for us brain bots, we don't seem to have the aversion to slimy and disgusting things that put off regular humans. However, it was somewhat tedious work. It certainly wasn't as exciting as some of the other jobs which Megamind had given us.

Until, I suddenly got an idea which might make it a little more fun. It was actually on impulse. I happened to be picking up a crumpled piece of paper, and saw that 56 was in a perfect position with his bin for me to attempt a little toss. Without really thinking about it, I threw back my arm and threw the paper ball in his direction. It landed squarely in the bin, and seemed to surprise him. "Heads up, 56." I called to him, already armed with a new projectile, an old banana peel, "Here's another one coming at you."

This time, 56 caught on, and angled the bin so that the banana peel would land in it. The other brain bots noticed what we were doing and paused in their trash duties to shoot us quizzical looks. "Well, come on, guys," said 56, after a moment, "I mean, if we are out here clearing human refuse then we might as well have fun with it."

That led to an entire night of a game which we eventually dubbed trash bin, a variant on the game of basketball, only played with bins and trash instead of balls and baskets. It was a lot of fun, and the competition turned out to be pretty fierce. I would like to say that I won by scoring the most trash, but I didn't even come close. But it was a good way to make the somewhat tedious process a bit more fun.

As the sun began to rise over the city, we had to scurry back to the Lair. As we were hovering along, 56 managed to say to me in a low tune, "Nice going with the game idea, 147. I think that was just the motivator that these less experienced brain bots needed."

"It just came to me out of nowhere. I'm glad that you liked it. I think that there will be a lot more bots volunteering for trash duty when word of trash bin gets around."

"And all thanks to you. I don't know why you're so good at encouraging other bots. It just comes so naturally to you. It's one of the things that I really lo-, er, like about you."

Of course I knew that he had actually almost said love, but was I going to bring than up and mercilessly tease him about it? Well, no, I didn't. I really didn't want to spoil the mood. To be quite honest, I was starting to like getting compliments from 56, in a way that I never had before. I think it was starting to become pretty clear to me at this point that I was starting to become aware of the fact that 238 was right, I was falling nuts, bolts, glass dome and everything else for 56. And though we didn't say anything at this point, I think that the feeling was mutual.

As it was turning out, I was not the only one who was becoming aware of romantic feelings. The next day, Megamind made yet another inane excuse to Minion as to where he was spending yet another afternoon when he should have been preparing for his big fight with the new hero (I could sense that Minion was starting to get more then a little suspicious as to his Master's comings and goings). 56 and I followed him, and in the disguise of Bernard we observed his next dates with Roxanne. He met her at a coffee shop that was a few blocks from her apartment. Roxanne seemed rather delighted to see him, greeting him with a big smile.

When Megamind asked her what they should do that day, Roxanne had said that she would have liked to have a picnic in the park.

"I would love to do that." said Megamind, his eyes lighting up at the suggestion, "I've never been on a picnic before."

"Never been on a bike, never been on a picnic? Didn't you get out at all as a child?"

Megamind smiled a little shyly, "Well, I kind of had what you might call a sheltered childhood."

Roxanne then seemed to remember something, and her smile faded. "What is it?" said Megamind, who looked distressed at seeing that Roxanne was in distress herself, and the tone of his voice made it sound as though he would have been willing to do anything to make it better.

"It's just, the park along the waterfront is really the best place for a picnic in the city, and, well, you saw how dirty it was. If this is your first picnic, I would like it be the best possible experience."

Megamind's eyes flashed with guilt for a moment, since he knew was responsible for that. But then he brightened. "Wait, I passed by the park on the way here, and it looked clean."

"What, you're kidding? It looked like a landfill a few days ago. It couldn't have possibly have been cleaned up that quickly. And I think that Megamind would have some objections to that."

"You know, her faith in our cleaning abilities is a little insulting." Said 56, "We worked all night to make that park clean."

I glanced at him. "She doesn't even know we did it. Why should we expect credit for it?"

"Oh, right." said 56, after a pause, and it sounded like he was trying to compensate for something he hadn't meant to say. "Well, I wasn't exactly expecting credit for anything. After all, we were only following Daddy's instructions."

Megamind was saying to Roxanne, "I doubt that Megamind would concern himself with something as trivial as the park being clean. I'm sure that he is very busy."

Roxanne rolled at her eyes at that, but then said, "Well, I suppose we could see how it is. I know this great little deli by the park. If we can some place, we can get good sandwiches there."

As it turned out, Roxanne was pleasantly shocked by how clean the park was. In fact, she couldn't speak for several seconds. Megamind seemed very pleased by the reaction, and no doubt he thought that he made up for something in Roxanne's estimation, even if it may not have changed her opinion of Megamind.

We followed Megamind and Roxanne as they walked through the now pristine Metro City Park, and listened to them talk and laugh. They eventually found a suitable place to have their little picnic, a broad oak tree that was near the center of the park, and had a good view of the waterfront. It was a good thing that they choose that tree, because its leaves offered us enough tree cover to hide in the branches and observe them.

As far as I knew, Daddy had never been a picnic before, and I have to say that it showed. He seemed a little clueless as to why they didn't have any silverware, as they always had silverware at the prison. Roxanne told him with a laugh that half the fun of a picnic was getting to eat with your hands. Megamind had a little trouble grasping this at first, but once he got used to the idea, he seemed to take to it with gusto. Indeed, he started eating a little to fast when he noticed that the bugs were starting to crawl around the perimeter of the blanket. Roxanne had to tell him to be careful not to choke. The bugs were a nuisance, but one of the drawbacks that had to be put up with on picnics. Then, while Roxanne's back was turned, Megamind took something out of his pocket which looked like a mini version of the dehydration gun, and zapped one corner of the blanket. That set up a shield which kept the bugs off the blanket. Roxanne couldn't see it, but we could, thanks to the fact that we had eye sensors which can see things which a lot of humans can't even dream of.

As the picnic went on, Roxanne was expressing delight with the fact that the bugs weren't bothering them. Megamind was beaming and said that perhaps they knew that it was such an important day for them, they instinctively knew to leave the two of them alone. I don't think Roxanne really believed that, but I could see that she appreciated the idea.

"I never thought that Daddy would get to sentimental over a few bugs." Said 56.

"I know, neither would I. It makes you think, though."

"Of what?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, I need to see a bit more to be sure."

As they finished their food, Roxanne and Daddy relaxed under the shade of the tree, lying on their backs and soaking up the warmth of the sun. They got to talking about past experiences with Megamind and Metro Man. "I'm sure that this must have been a difficult time for you." said Megamind, "I mean, you were closer to Metro Man than anyone."

Roxanne's smile seemed to wilt for a moment and she said, after a moment, "Well, I think I have to tell you something, something that I actually haven't told anyone."

"What?"

"Metro Man and I were never actually a couple."

Megamind's face seemed registered surprise at this news. Of course, he had heard Roxanne say the same thing many times, but then again, he had probably been to busy with his epic schemes to really listen. "Really, but I thought that you two were…"

"I know, everyone thought we were, but he was never really my type."

"I knew, I knew that the two of them were never a couple." Said 56.

"I always did question Roxanne's taste if she were really attracted to Megamind." I said, and it also seemed to confirm something else in my mind. As I had been observing the dates with Roxanne, I couldn't help but notice that for someone who was supposedly madly in love with the superhero, she sure seemed to be getting over him pretty fast. But, now, another piece of the puzzle seemed to slip into place when I heard this.

Roxanne didn't want to appear to pursue the subject of Metro Man anymore, and so she asked Megamind, "Now, you tell me something, something you have never told anyone."

Megamind seemed to think for a moment, before he started, almost shyly, "Well, as sho-school, none of the other kids really liked me. I was always the last one picked for anything."

Neither 56 nor I had ever seen Megamind drop his guard like that, I mean, we knew all about his past, but it was something he never talked about, only with Minion behind closed doors, and that but rarely. But we saw something in Megamind's face when he admitted that to Roxanne: we saw that he trusted her.

Roxanne, moved by what she had heard him say, told him in a soft voice and an encouraging smile, "Well, it's too bad we didn't go to the same school." She took his hand and the two of them just lay there, perfectly content in the silence and in each other. We had never seen Megamind look in such high spirits, and it seemed as if he would be perfectly happy to stay there for the rest of his life.

56 poked me, and said, "I think we should make a graceful exit." He whispered to me.

I nodded and the two of us hovered quietly up and out of the tree and made our way back to the Lair. "I'm surprised at you." I said, "You're not normally one to be so discreet. I thought that you were curious about what Megamind is up to."

"I am, it just… Well, it just felt like we were maybe watching something which was not our business to watch."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, you've been watching him same as me. 147, between the two of us, I think that something is happening with Megamind. Something that I've never seen in him before. He's not just behaving strangely; he's undergoing a complete personality change. He's not acting like a super villain or an overlord or anything. He's been cleaning up the park, going out with Roxanne and not terrorizing her, he's going around with this big grin on his face, acting all happy. He's not acting like Megamind, he's acting like a, like a…"

"Like a good guy?" I supplied.

"Don't say that." said 56, aghast at the very idea, "I mean, how can you even say that? Megamind is supposed to be a criminal genius."

"Well, you're the one who said all the evidence, not me. Besides, I think I might have come up with one of the reasons why Megamind is doing this, like 1 said there might be another reason. From all we have seen, I think that Megamind is, well, he's falling in love with Roxanne for want of a better word."

"Falling in love with his own captive?" said 56, "How is that even possible?"

"Well, it's not like it's totally out of the question. I mean, the two of them have known each other for years, and there is always the fact that he only ever kidnapped Roxanne. Plus, all the stuff that you mentioned, like cleaning up the park, he only did that after Roxanne mentioned it to him. Megamind is doing all this stuff for her."

"But, this goes against everything that's supposed to be normal." Said 56, "Megamind is supposed to be the villain."

I was silent for a moment, as I pondered this statement. "Who's saying that he has to be a villain? I mean, I don't think everyone even said to him, this is your role in life and you can never change it."

"But Megamind loves being a villain; it's the only thing that he's ever wanted to do."

"You may have to be willing to widen your horizons, 56. Otherwise, we'll never get to the bottom of this."

"All right, let's not get into an argument about this. But you do have to admit it is quite strange."

"You are right about that, 56. I thought that we all knew what Daddy was like, now, I'm not so sure. I can't imagine what else we will find out about him before all this is over."

As it turned out, that would be prophetic. We had yet to discover the depths of what Megamind could do. I said that there were three dates which turned our perception of Megamind around. Well, it was that third date which would change everything, especially when it came 56 and I. But in the next few days, the brain bots who had followed Megamind from the beginning would find themselves thrust into situations where we had to think for ourselves for our creator, for Roxanne, and, as it turned out, for all of Metro City.

* * *

Please read and review.

Next chapter: Where better to have a romantic confession than at a museum? When 56 and 147 are given the task of putting back the pictures in Metro City's Art Museum, the pictures they see will give them an opportunity to admit their feelings.


	11. Eleven

Well, here is the next chapter of Days in the Life of a Brain Bot. Do enjoy.

Eleven:

A few more days passed, and it soon became clear that the two fronts we had been following Megamind on were beginning to gain momentum. According to 125 and 238, Megamind's training of Hal Stewart was starting to come together. Having changed their approach to training, Hal was now beginning to show real potential. At least, Megamind thought so. 125 and 238, however, did not think that anyone would ever be able to truly replace Metro Man.

For the most part, 56 and I didn't pay so much attention to that anymore. I guess you could say that we were having more fun just spending more time with each other. True, we had always enjoyed each other's company, but those few weeks when we observing Megamind falling for Roxanne, we began to feel just how great we were together. Strange, we might very well have never known that we were meant for each other unless we had first seen Megamind falling in love with Roxanne. And had it not been for one special date, we might never have put our feelings into words.

Art museums are pretty romantic places when you think about it. I mean, you're surrounded by all those paintings with their rich colors and textures, each one tells a story that you can imagine in your own way. The fact that many paintings depict figures without clothes is either a downside or an upshot, depending on how you look at it.

The Metro City Art Museum was one of the premiere art museums in the world, with great classics from antiquity, up through the Medieval and Renaissance periods and even modern times. I had been there many times, under the cover of night of course. It was one of my favorite places in Metro City. It was also somewhat of an icon of pride for the people who lived there. As a result, it had been one of the first places in the city that had been looted by Megamind. He had taken all of the paintings from the museum and stashed them in City Hall. I already said that when I saw one of the paintings sitting forlornly in the shadows, it just didn't feel right. Well, I suppose that it must not have felt right to Megamind either, or maybe it was just his reawakening conscious. Either way, a few days after we had observed his last date with Roxanne, Megamind once more summoned all of the brain bots together.

"You've all done such a magnificent job making the city clean again." He praised us, and we chirped in response. Yes, the city streets were probably the cleanest that they had ever been. There were now more volunteers every night for trash duty then Megamind thought was appropriate and he had had to set up a schedule. I guess my little idea with trash bin had taken on, and now the brain bots couldn't get enough of the game when they went out.

"Yes, Daddy is very proud of you. Now, I'm going to ask something else of you. I was you to bring all the paintings that used to hang in the Metro City Art Museum and put them back exactly where they used to hang. Do you have that?"

We all chirped in affirmative. I was feeling pretty excited. The paintings would be put back where they belonged, out in the light for other people to see. You might think that strange, considering we were still technically the minions of the Evil Overlord of the city, but then again, this whole time was not just about Megamind's starting to change. I think the mindsets of all the brain bots were starting to undergo a change as well.

A group of about twenty-five of us worked through the night to move the paintings from where they had been collecting dust in City Hall, to the art museum. From there, we organized them into time periods and artists. That might have been more fun had not 35 thought she was the one who had been put in charge of the proceedings. 35 always means well. Unfortunately, she is also something of a bossy personality and she is also a tad OCD. She has a way of taking the fun out of everything.

"147," she told me, while we were in the midst of organizing everything, "why are you putting those paintings with the sculptures? They belong to two different galleries."

I rolled my eyes. "Under ordinary situations, that might be the case, 35. But these sculptures and paintings were made by Da Vinci. They belong in their own gallery. The Metro City Art Museum houses one of the largest collections of Da Vincis in the world. If you had bothered to take the time to read the museum layout, you would have known that."

There was a pause, and 35, who was not one who liked to have her mistakes pointed out to her, said, "Oh, well, we don't know for certain. We should be aware of who made what. You had better go over and make sure that Da Vinci made all of these."

Now, ordinarily I wouldn't have minded being told what to do, but it had taken me a good two hours to sort out all of Da Vinci from the rest of the collection, and I wasn't about to go over it all again. Before I could give 35 a piece of my mind, though, 56, who had been hovering nearby and had heard the whole thing, suddenly said, "35, leave 147 alone. She knows more about art than you will in twelve lifetimes. Stop self-aggrandizing yourself at the expense of others. Come on, 147; let's leave Miss Fussbudget to her nitpicking."

35 was completely startled and didn't have a good answer. 56 took advantage of her silence, grabbed me by the tendriled arm and proceeded to drag me away. "Thanks for that." I said, "I probably would have said something that I regretted later on."

"Don't mention it. I can't stand it when bots like 35 start getting all high and mighty about things they know nothing about."

"You sometimes sound like your bragging yourself."

"I do not brag, 147." I shot him a look, "Okay, maybe I am volubly extravagant on occasion about my accomplishments, but I only do it on stuff that I know about, and I don't do it at the expense of the bots around me. Even you must see the difference in that."

"Yeah, I do. If you were anything like 35 than I wouldn't like spending as much time with you as I do. By the way, where exactly are we going?" We were heading down one of the hallways of the museum, hallways that I recognized as being the way towards one of my favorite of the exhibits that were housed in the Art Museum.

"Oh, uh, well, I figured that it would be more fun for you to put together this group of paintings without any distractions."

"What are you talking about, 56?" I asked him. In answer, he opened the door to the Impressionist Gallery, and I was rather taken aback by the sight of all of the Impressionist works lying on the floor in a pile, somewhat haphazardly, but from what I could tell, they were all there.

I hovered forward and looked at the paintings. "How did you get all of these here?" I asked.

"Well, while 35 was busy ordering around the paintings from the Renaissance, and generally not doing half as a good a job as you would have done on them, I was able to locate where Daddy stashed these and carry them over myself. I know that the Impressionists are your favorite, and you weren't able to get as good a look at them as you did when you visited here. So, I figured that this would be a perfect opportunity to do that."

I stared at him. For the first time in our friendship, I was struck speechless by something that 56 had done. I hadn't even known that he paid such close attention, or that he would go out of his way to do something like this for me.

I think he interpreted my silence in the wrong way, because he asked, in a heartbroken manner. "What's the matter? Don't you like it?"

"No, I mean, I do like it very much. It's just, I've never known you to do anything like this for me. Why did you do it?"

Had 56 been human, I was sure that he would have been shuffling his feet and blushing with embarrassment. I guess that this was just as new to him as it was to me. "Uh, well, I guess because I knew it would make you happy and I like seeing you happy."

I hovered to him, and the two of us looked into each other's eye stalks. "You know, in human circles, that might be considered a sign of affection." I said, after a moment.

"I guess it would. What would it be considered in brain bot circles?"

I pretended to give the matter very serious. "Well, if you were to ask me, I would say that this is a good place to have our first date."

He blinked and looked at me. "Really? I mean, you've been feeling this, too?"

"Feeling what? Like I've come to value your friendship more than I think I ever have before? Or that I just want to find excuses to find time with you alone? Yeah, I guess I have."

56 cocked his head in a questionable manner. "Is this happening the way I think it is? 147, are we trying to say that we're in love with other?"

"Well, I guess we are, I mean, if that's what you were trying to say."

"You know, it actually was. I mean, 147, I don't want to start getting all gushy or anything; because I know that's not the way we operate. But, I do think that I started falling in love with you awhile ago, but I didn't really know that it was going that way until Metro Man died and Megamind took over the city. I really don't know what even tipped me off to it. I just realized it all of a sudden."

"The same thing happened to me. It just came to me so gradually that I can't even say where it began. But, I do love you, and I am glad that you love me, too. You are right; too, I don't want to get to gushy either."

There was another pause, which was a little awkward for both of us. "So, now what do we do?" asked 56, "I know in all the romantic movies there's supposed to be this great swelling of soundtrack in the music and we share this big kiss."

"Well, besides the fact that this isn't a mushy romance movie (which I have to say I'm glad it's not), and the swelling soundtrack aside, can brain bots even kiss? We don't even have lips."

"According to 238 we can." I looked at him, "What?"

"You've been getting romantic advice from 238?"

"Well, no, I uh, followed him and 125 on one of their dates. Pretty much the opposite of how we act with each other, but I did see them kiss. It was more like a spark actually, but they seemed to like it."

"Well, no offense, but I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet."

"Yeah, neither am I. Tell you what, why don't we just put these paintings up and, like old times, and while we're doing that, we can, I don't know, talk, I guess. You can tell me why you like them, and I'll ask questions."

"That sounds sort of like what we do all the time."

"It does, sounds kind of nice, though doesn't it? I mean, this being our first date and all."

"When you put it like that, yes, I guess it does sound quite nice."

So, that's what me and 56 did for our first date. We put up the paintings for the Impressionists. He asked me why I liked them and I told them about the way they play with light and shadow, solid forms that became almost dreamlike, and the way you could look at one thing throughout the day, and feel as if you were looking at a completely different thing each time. He actually listened and seemed very interested.

It doesn't sound very dramatic does it? Probably not very romantic in the traditional vein, but I have to say that I had never had more fun in my life. Quite honestly, I think you humans tend to make relationships more complicated than they need to be. It seemed to me then and does now that the best relationship you can have is with your best friend. There was no change in that aspect of my relationship with 56: he was still my best friend, I just valued him more.

Plus, there was something special about putting those paintings back the way they were supposed to be, under the light and in the open for everyone to enjoy. The sad feeling I had gotten from seeing it all alone and pretty much forgotten that night a few weeks ago now transformed into a rather satisfied and happy glow. I didn't know if anyone would come back to the museum, but if they did, I hoped that the people who saw the paintings would appreciate it. Strange, but doing something for someone else like that, it felt better than anything we had done when Megamind was a villain.

Anyway, it took us an hour to make the Impressionist gallery presentable again. We then hovered back to the main part of the museum, and we were just able to catch the brain bots putting up the last of the paintings. 35 was still there, and she seemed a little sulky. She didn't give us anymore than a passing humph, but she didn't seem to want to go head to head with 56 again, so she let it pass. I couldn't help but notice with some personal satisfaction that she had kept all of the Da Vincis almost exactly the way I had put them.

Well, not exactly the way that I had put them. I couldn't help but notice that the Mona Lisa (which was a copy, though an expertly done one), had a mustache painted on the face. That had probably been put there by some mischievous younger brain bot who didn't know the value of good art when he saw it.

Apparently, this didn't go unnoticed on the part of 35. "147, could you come here for a moment?"

"Now, she wants you." said 56.

I hovered over to 35, "Yes, 35. Did you want something?" I asked, sweetly.

"Well, I just…Do you see anything strange about this Mona Lisa, being the art expert that you are and everything?"

I looked at her, and I was a bit surprised that she was totally serious. She knew that something was wrong with the painting, but she couldn't tell what it was. The mustache should have been something of a give away. I looked at the painting long and hard, pretending to give the matter deep and serious thought. Finally, I said, "Ah, yes, I see what you mean."

I hovered over to the painting and very deliberately tipped it six inches to the left. "There, it was crooked."

35 looked at me, looked at the painting, and then looked back at me. "Oh, right, yes, of course. I knew that, I just wanted to be sure that you knew that, good work."

I found it hard to disguise my laughter as 35 left and 56 came hovering over to me. "Nice going, 147. I guess that 35 isn't as know it all as she claims to be."

"The fussbudgets in life always tend to ignore the smaller details." I said, as I eased the painting back to where it should be and carefully erased the mustache.

As I was finishing that up, 56 said, "Hey, 147, look."

I looked over the balcony and saw that Megamind, once more disguised as Bernard, was standing in the main foyer of the museum. He was with Roxanne and his hands were over her eyes. When he removed them, Roxanne's face showed astonishment and delight when she saw that all the paintings were back in their original places. "They're all back." She exclaimed, "But, how? Why?"

"Maybe Megamind isn't so bad, after al." said Megamind, who smiled at seeing the joy on Roxanne's face.

56 and I looked at each other. We were in love ourselves, and now that we knew that, there could be no denying the symptoms that Megamind was displaying. "He's got it bad, doesn't he?" said 56.

"Yep, I think he does." I said, "Let's just hope that it ends as well for him as it did for us."

"You call this an end. I thought it was supposed to be a beginning."

I laughed. "You said we would avoid cliché. That is just about the most clichéd line there is."

"It's not cliché when you mean it." said 56, "When you mean it, then it becomes a classic."

For once, I wasn't willing to argue with him.

* * *

Please read and review. They always keep me going.

By the way, I got the Megamind DVD on Friday, including the new mini movie, The Button of Doom. Despite the appalling lack of Roxanne, I really enjoyed it. So, here's a question: if anyone would like to see a one-shot depicting the brain bots in that movie, then let me know, and I will write it.

Next chapter: So, two brain bots are in love, and so are a certain super-villain and reporter. But, of course, not all is well in paradise. 147 and 56 are exploring their own realms of dating, but things will soon begin to unravel, when everything they thought would be unchangeable begins to crash down around them.


	12. Twelve

Twelve:

So, 56 and I were in love. It was wonderful, and it was better than everyone says it is. But the greatest thing was that nothing much changed between us, we still hung out together, we still recharged at pretty much the same time, and we still teased and fought with each other. Only, perhaps there might have been an extra spark in his eye which he only had when he looked at me, or maybe I would occasionally take one of his tendrils in mine, it was the little things that really meant the most to me, and that I still treasure. Being in love with my best friend, it was all that I could ask for.

The thing that was maybe the best was that not even 238 and 125 picked up on the fact that we had become boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean, that's how ordinary we seemed. In fact, the two of them decided to take matters into their own tendrils. They actually cornered us separately, and sort of said that either we told each other how we felt or they would just have to do it for us. Imagine their surprise when we told them exactly what had happened at the art museum, in such frank language that they had trouble believing it at first. But then again, 125 and 238 were something like hopeless romantics and so they had trouble thinking that love could come without some sighs of longing or dooey eyes or anything of that sort.

56 and I got a big kick out of that. It wasn't every day that we were able to put one over on 125 and 238, for they were both observant. Plus, since the four of us were pretty close, keeping any secrets would have been difficult for very long. Once the two of them actually caught onto the fact that we were in love in our way, they couldn't have been more thrilled for us. 238 even suggested the possibility of double dating.

At this point in the story, life is going pretty well, isn't it? I mean, all the major people or brain bots are together with who they are meant to be with, and the future is looking bright and sunny. It's always at this point in the movies, though, that the clouds start to gather, and something happens which makes the happy ending seem impossible. Normally, this event is an argument between the guy and the girl, which always seems to be the guy's fault, which really isn't fair considering the realities of life. Admittedly, it did sort of happen that way, only not between me and 56. But, we were witnesses to it, and the consequences that followed.

And it wasn't just looming disaster which we would have to worry about; it was something else, too. I think that all of the brain bots were beginning to feel, in some or another, that our purpose in life was changing. We were doing good deeds now, however we might have tried to come up with excuses for them. The thing about good deeds, they have a way of getting into your psyche and changing everything that you once thought was certain. It was a subtle change, but for 56 and I, our realization of what was happening happened because of a certain event. I guess you could say, it was that one event which was the turning point, or at least the beginning of one, which would change our lives forever.

* * *

It all started about two days after the events at the art museum. 56 and I had contrived to get away from the Lair for a few hours, so that we could talk about proper dates for someone in our situation. True, we were not hopeless romantics, but all young love birds, or brain bots for that matter, enjoy doing things together on their own. There was no reason why we couldn't have a list of things that we wanted to do together.

It was late afternoon and we were hovering around the perimeter of the park, down by the waterfront. Ostensibly, we were on trash duty, but that was only a moderate cover for our real conversation. "What do you feel about baseball?" 56 asked.

"I don't know. I've never been to a game."

"Oh, once you do, you'll never forget it. The smell of the dust in the air, the sound of the bat hitting the ball, the hotdogs-"

"Hotdogs? We don't eat."

"Well, no, but its part of the experience. I have to mention them. I'm telling you 147, it's one of those things that you have to do before you die."

"Technically, that's impossible for us."

"Yeah, yeah, make technicalities, why don't you? Just trust me on this, okay. The season starts up in a couple months. I'm pretty sure we can go on a day when Daddy isn't planning on disturbing the festivities."

"Yeah, remember that time he tried to take over the baseball complex?"

"Or course, he plastered his face on all the giant screens and then broke through the boards of the homestretch with his one of his inventions, which he called the Punter of Doom, a baseball bat that delivered devastating home runs to the outfield."

"Until Metro Man showed up and declared that it was the bottom of the ninth and he had just used his third strike."

"Not very original, but it didn't really matter. That was one of the rare times when Daddy was able to escape. So, what do you say, you want to experience it?"

"Sure, you put up with me droning on for the Impressionists for three hours, so I guess it's only fair I listen to you."

"Fine, great, it's a date, then. So, what do we do in the meantime?"

"I don't know, what we normally do, I guess. What we're doing right now, actually. Just talking, hanging out."

"I know, and that's all great, but shouldn't there be some times that are a little like, I don't know, special."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I thought you would know. Women are always supposed to be the more romantic of the sexes. And even if you did happen to get the programming that made you female, I would have thought that maybe you would have had an answer."

"I've never really thought of myself as a romantic brain bot. Just assume for a moment that I am totally ignorant-"

"That would be difficult, if not impossible, even for me."

"Okay, pretend that I know nothing about just this one thing, then. What would you describe as being special?"

"I guess something like Megamind is doing with Roxanne tonight. They're going to a really nice restaurant and having dinner. Obviously, eating is out for us, but I still think that maybe there should be something special we could do like that, something that's only about us and that we don't share with anyone."

I thought about this, and I kind of liked it. Whoever would have thought that 56 had something like it in him? There's nothing saying you have to hopeless in order to want to do something romantic with the one you love. "So, what do you think?"

"Well, I don't know. You know how to dance?"

I looked at him. "Dance? I don't know, I never tried."

"Well, we could probably figure out how. I mean, how hard could it be? We just move in synch with each other to some sort of music, and we don't have to worry about our legs getting in the way either."

"I would be open to trying that if you are."

Such was our banter for a good deal of the way that evening. It seemed like it would turn into a spontaneous date, had it not been for one event which rather shattered the romantic atmosphere. 56 had been saying something about whether we should start with tango or waltz in our dancing experiment when he suddenly stopped midsentence. "56, what's wrong?" I asked.

He gestured to one side of the park, and I could tell that he was in his seeker droid mood. I tried to focus what he was seeing, but I couldn't tell at first what was so important. "56, what is it? All I see is a man and a woman."

"Can't you see? The guy is trying to rob the woman." And then, before I could even answer or react, 56 shot off in the direction of the altercation. Not really knowing what he was planning, I took off after him.

What happened next was unlike anything that I had ever witnessed 56 doing. It was true that the guy was in the process of mugging the woman. He had thrown her to the ground and was demanding that she hand over her purse. She did that, her eyes showing mute terror. The thief then demanded that she hand over her bracelet, which I could see had at least a few real diamonds.

The woman clutched at the bracelet and said that she couldn't give it up, since it had belonged to her grandmother and was the only thing that she had of her left. The thief was obviously not in the least concerned with sentimentality, and he lunged for the woman, intent on taking the bracelet by force. That was until 56 came buzzing in, growling and sparking in his dome. Admittedly, we brain bots were not programmed to be overly aggressive. Our big jaws had mainly been designed for show, but they were still made out of unbreakable steal and could deliver a nasty bite if we so choose. 56 so chose at that moment to deliver a threatening snap to the thief's arms.

The thief was taken completely by surprise. He dropped the purse and started flailing at 56 as though he were a swarm of hornets, trying to swat him away. A lot of good that did. Brain bots are not so easily frightened off. The thief, recognizing a lost cause when he saw one, finally turned tail and run, with 56 hot in his heels, literally.

The woman was still trembling and crying, and she didn't seem to have understood what had just happened. Overcome by sudden compassion for her situation, I hovered over and picked up the purse which the thief had dropped. In the process of doing so, everything in tit had fallen out and since I didn't want her to trouble herself any further than was necessary, I gathered them and put them all back neatly. I don't really know why human women need to carry so much in their purses, but I figured that I might as well make her evening easier any way I could.

With that done, I hovered over to her and offered her the purse. She looked at me in uncertainty, which I could understand . I mean, she had just been the victim of an attempted robbery and now some weird looking robot was trying to help her. Any normal person would have thought the turn of events to be just a little odd. I chirped gently and held out the purse. Hesitantly she took it, and smiled a little through her tears. "Th-thank you."

It was the first time that anyone had thanked me, besides Minion or Megamind or any of the other brain bots. It was the first time that I had ever actually been spoken to by a person in Metro City. Most of the time, they just ran away screaming. It took me by surprise at how nice it felt.

However, the moment was interrupted when I heard a voice calling from a few feet away. "Jenny." The voice sounded familiar and it should have been, it belonged to none other than Roxanne Ritchi. I watched in complete shock as Roxanne came running up to us. She looked very worried. "Jenny, there you are. I thought you said we would meet on the other side of the park, but I must have heard wrong. I've been looking all over for you. I just saw what happened. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Roxanne. Just a little freaked out. I mean if it hadn't been for these things, I don't know what would have happened."

Roxanne turned to look at me, while I tried to concentrate really hard on blending in with the background. This is was somewhat embarrassing. I mean, I certainly had never encountered Roxanne in any situation beyond that of her being kidnapped and me being the servant of the guy who kidnapped her. Actually seeing her here, in the park, in the present circumstances, was stepping out of my comfort zone big time.

Roxanne herself seemed not be fairing much better. She seemed to have gone into complete shock. She knew me, of course. She had seen the brain bots numerous times during her kidnappings. I doubted that she could tell us apart, but she would certainly know what one of us was. She would only know us as Megamind's agents of mayhem, if nearly always harmless. She would never have known us to do a good deed. "You mean, this actually saved you?" There was clear skepticism in her tone of voice.

"Well, this one helped me after. There was another one who-"

It had to be right now that 56 showed up, and he seemed to be way more pumped up than he normally was. "Whoo! 147, did you see that? That was so cool. I chased that guy all the way across the park and into a waiting cop car. Turns out he's been wanted before on small time theft. He's hurt a lot of women. But no more, he is behind bars, right where he belongs. This is amazing, 147. I've never felt like this-"

"56," I hissed, gesturing to Roxanne and Jenny, who I assumed was Roxanne's friend. "We have company."

56 was instantly shocked into silence when he saw them. "I can't take any of that back, can I?"

"No, but they can't understand you, so it really doesn't matter."

Jenny was talking to Roxanne, "That one saved me. He just zoomed out of nowhere and started attacking the guy." She went on explaining what had taken place, all the time, Roxanne was staring at us in apparent shock, and it seemed that she was trying to understand something.

"All right, Jenny. I'm glad that you're not hurt or anything. Maybe you should go to the police station and report this. I'll drive you there myself. Could you just give me a minute?"

"Yeah, sure, Roxanne."

Once Jenny had left, Roxanne turned to the two of us, with a frown on her face. We not really sure what we should be doing, shuffled and sparked uncertainly. Eventually, Roxanne spoke, "What is going on? Megamind disappears from the radar, and he's working on some plan for the city. Meanwhile, his brain bots are patrolling and preventing crime? This doesn't make sense. You're not supposed to be doing good deeds."

For some reason I couldn't identify, I felt a little hurt by this. I knew Roxanne didn't mean to be insulting, but the truth was, I suddenly realized that I had been doing good deeds for the past few weeks. I had helped clean up the parks, I had put the paintings back in the museum, and I had just helped someone who had been the victim of petty theft. And as I thought back on those experiences, I realized that I had been happy and fulfilled doing those things, more so I think than I had been when I was doing evil. I found myself beginning to wonder, was there more to life than just doing what we were supposed to be doing? Could we do something just because we wanted to, and what if that something just happened to be the right thing?

Seized by a sudden impulse, I wanted to show Roxanne that there was more to brain bots than she might have thought. I came forward slightly, and she took a step back, her eyes showing a little suspicion. But I chirped gently, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. After a moment, Roxanne seemed to screw up her courage, and cautiously put out her hand. I came forward gently and placed my dome underneath her hand.

For a few seconds, we just stood like that, trying to absorb the fact that we could stand side by side with each other, not as rivals or enemies, but as allies. Maybe, in another time, we could have been friends. That for me, was the turning point. That some part of me was sick of hiding what I really was and wanting to share a little bit of sunshine in the lives of other people.

Roxanne seemed to be feeling similar feelings. She stroked my dome a little, and a small smile appeared on her face when she heard me begin to purr happily. She then reached out to 56, and though he seemed to be a bit more hesitant than either of us had been, he too came forward and allowed Roxanne to touch him. "Okay, this, I never expected this." She said, in a softer voice.

The moment of connection which we had established was fragile, perhaps, but it was a start. But Roxanne had somewhere to be and the two of us were probably due back at the Lair soon. So, Roxanne said, "I have noticed that the streets have been actually safer the past few weeks. I don't know what that's about, but if you two or any of your friends are responsible, than you've done a good job. I don't know if Megamind knows about this, but just between the three of us, you two are all right."

A few minutes later, we were flying back to the Lair. We flew pretty slowly, since we were both deep in thought. It was several minutes before we spoke. Finally, 56 said, "Okay, did that just happen?"

"You mean, did we just save a woman from being mugged and showed Roxanne that we were more than just guard dogs?"

"That pretty much sums it up. But, I've… We… 147, we've never done anything like that before. It was so weird."

"I thought that you said you enjoyed it."

"Well, yeah, I did enjoy it, a lot. But, you have to admit to the strangeness, 147. Being do-gooders is not exactly what we were programmed to do."

I thought about this, my former doubts starting to come back. "We also weren't supposed to be as different from each other as we are. I mean, we were all programmed once to be alike, but that never worked out. We've grown beyond even Megamind's expectations, 56. Who's to say that this wasn't part of our programming?"

"You may be right. I just, don't know what to do with myself now. What will happen when we go back to being servants of Megamind's villainy? He's having his big fight with Titan tomorrow. That will put everything back to where it was before."

I wish I could have known the answer to that. But I didn't. The truth was, that day when I acknowledged to myself that I actually enjoyed doing good more than I liked doing evil, I started to become confused as to what it meant to be the servant of a hero and of a servant of the villain. Was it possible to do both in one life time?

As I said, that day was a turning point for me. When I began to question everything that I had once thought would never change. But, something was about to change. After that day, events started happening very quickly, and we brain bots would turn out to have our own role to play.

* * *

So, the brain bots are starting to see that being good has it's perks. Will Megamind begin to feel the same? Well, of course we all know he does, but it takes a bit longer for the idea to get through that thick skull of his. Let's face it, Megamind is a little stubborn when it comes to accepting his true nature in this part of the movie. But, luckily, he's got the brain bots to help him along. Be ready, the drama is about to start. In the meantime, please read and review.

Next chapter: 147 and 56 return to the Evil Lair, only to find that things are not exactly going smoothly. The family they always thought they could rely on is about to be torn apart and their lives turned inside out.


	13. Thirteen

Thirteen:

By the time we got back to the Lair, the sun had set over Metro City. As we came inside, we could the hum of activity in the air, as brain bots rushed around taking care of all the last minute details that inevitably arose before a great conflict. What was more, there was a heightened feeling of excitement from many of the brain bots, especially the younger ones. It had been nearly two months since we had had any form of entertainment, so it was only natural that they should have felt so.

Under ordinary circumstances, perhaps 56 and I would have been excited as well. 56 would probably have been in there, spouting off high flown praises to Megamind as the ultimate master of villainy and what he himself would be doing to bring his plans to their awesomely evil climax. I would have taken my own quiet sense of pride in the performance, while complimenting everyone else on what a good job they were doing. We should have been excited just that the balance was being restored, because I think that's what we were really missing. It wasn't really right that there should be just a villain; that made life to easy. There needed to be conflict for life to be interesting, that's why not everything in life is perfect.

But we weren't feeling any of this. Indeed, we tried to stay away from the hubbub. We didn't want to be involved anymore than we had to. For some reason, either because of what had happened that day, or a combination of all that we had been experiencing, it just didn't feel right anymore.

I don't think that anyone really noticed our mood, but it turned out that we weren't the only ones who were feeling a little off about this whole thing. When we found 238 and 125, it was right in front of the new monster robot that Megamind had built for the debut battle with Titan. 125 was helping Megamind with his new cape along with several other brain bots. When 238 saw us, he said, "Hey, where have you guys been today?"

"Oh, you know, out and around." said 56, which was something of an understatement. "What's been going on here? Is Daddy getting ready for his big fight with Titan tomorrow?"

"Well, yes, he is." said 238, after what I was almost sure was an uncertain pause, "Look, just between the three of us, does this whole situation strike you as being a little off?"

"Off, what do you mean?" asked 56.

"I don't know, this just doesn't have the same feeling of great anticipation that his fights with Metro Man had. 125 and I have been watching Hal's training, and to be quite honest, he still doesn't strike me as being the same hero do-gooder that Metro Man was. I just get the feeling sometimes that he likes having the powers. 125 described it as a teenager still living inside of a grown-up' body. I just have a very bad feeling about it."

The last time that 238 had gotten a bad feeling it had been right before Megamind had taken over the city. That time, we all had been kind of skeptical. But 238 had turned out to be right that time. Now, we weren't so quick to dismiss his feeling, not even 56 had anything to say in response to it.

238 also told us that 125 shared his feelings. I almost got the feeling that they would have preferred to not take part in the fight tomorrow. Strange, I was beginning to wonder if I might not be feeling the same thing.

It was only Megamind and Minion who seemed to be unaffected by any feelings of nervousness about the big event tomorrow. In fact Megamind had a big smile on his face, as Minion and the brain bots hovered around him, making last minute corrections and adjustments to Megamind's cape. Of course, I couldn't help but notice that it wasn't the manic expectation of the upcoming battle which were putting him in such a good mood. That dreamy smile was the one I had been seeing on his face quite a lot lately. That was the smile he got when he was thinking about Roxanne.

And in fact, when the time for the evening news came around, he flipped on the TV, on the pretense of looking through the channels to see if there was anything about him. If the citizens of Metro City had been lulled into a false state of security, it would make the shock of tomorrow all the greater. Of course, he only went to one channel, KCMP 8 and Roxanne Ritchi. Minion really didn't comment on this, as this was Megamind's normal choice for watching the news.

At the very end of her report, Roxanne was describing the changes which had been happening in Metro City for the past few weeks, the look on her face was nothing less than glowing. "The parks restored to their former glory, the roads cleaned, the streets the safest they've been. What has happened to Megamind? Has someone tamed this monster? This is Roxanne Ritchi, pleasantly surprised and happily confused."

When she had said this, Megamind gave the very barest hint of a contented sigh. I wondered what Roxanne would think if she knew that she was the reason why the city had so improved, because I realized that Megamind had been doing everything for the past few weeks because he wanted Roxanne to be happy. She was the one who had tamed the "monster" (even though Megamind had never been a great monster anyway).

At any rate Minion seemed to notice his Master's good mood, and he was happy to see it. No doubt because it was the happiest that he had seen Megamind in awhile. "Well you certainly seem in a very good mood today, sir."

Megamind hurriedly rearranged his face before Minion could guess the real reason for his happiness. "Oh, yes. How long is this going to take, Minion?"

"Just a few more adjustments, and I will be done with your most terrifying cape yet," said Minion, with evident enthusiasm, "I'm calling it, The Black Mambaaaaaa!"

"Boy, at this rate, Megamind is going to be late for his date with Roxanne." Said 56.

"Oh, yeah, that's tonight." Said 238, "Where are they going?"

"I don't know. Some fancy French restaurant I can't pronounce the name of." Said 56.

"It might be an interesting evening." I said, "I mean, I don't know how much longer Megamind can keep this up, not with this new hero he'll have to do deal with and everything. He'll be going back to jail constantly, and he won't have time for romantic dates, there might be a risk that Roxanne will just lose interest."

"You make it sound like Daddy's resumption of his role as a villain will be a bad thing for his relationship with Roxanne." Said 238.

"Well, it will definitely make it harder for him to keep his identity a secret. I'm almost surprised that Roxanne hasn't figured it out by now."

Below us, the brain bots took the cape off of Megamind's shoulders and carried it off for the final touches. Megamind seemed absent minded, and he didn't seem to be sharing his partner's enthusiasm for the venture. "Black Mamba, great. Oh look at the time, I have to go."

This caught Minion's attention. All the other times, Megamind had been able to worm out of telling Minion exactly where he was going, and Minion had always been too busy to ask very far. But, right now, it seemed to Minion like they were right in the middle of preparing for the resurrection of Megamind's reputation as a super villain. "Where are you going, sir? We have your big debut fight with Titan tomorrow. We haven't even tested your big battle suit yet."

"You attend to the details, Minion." That wasn't the best excuse to give. Megamind loved arranging the last minute details for his battles, and the fact that he now seemed completely uninterested now just aroused Minion's suspicions rather than putting him off. "I have to run a quick errand."

Minion wasn't fooled. "You don't run errands. What's going on?"

"Minion, I just have something-"

Minion had gotten right in front of Megamind and his eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion. "What a minute." He sniffed Megamind several times, and even if enclosed by glass and living underwater, it might have been a surprise to some just how sensitive Minion's sense of smell could be. "Are you wearing Jean-Paul Gartier's _Pour Homme_?"

"Isn't that the perfume that Roxanne wears?" asked 125, who had just joined us.

"Uh, yes." I said, feeling a little uneasy about the way that this was going.

"Uh oh, this could be bad." Said 56, who apparently shared my thoughts on the subject.

Megamind was temporarily taken aback by this, but he countered with, "It's just my natural musk. Now, where are the car keys?"

He spotted them lying on a nearby table and went to go get them. But, Megamind had made the mistake of installing extra long arms into Minion's gorilla suit. Subsequently, one of those long arms zipped out and nabbed the keys before Megamind could get them. I could see that Minion had started to put the pieces together, and that he was beginning to understand just what his Master had been doing over the past few weeks, all of the sneaking away from the Lair with excuses that he now saw were poor at best, disappearing for hours on end and then turning up again with no explanation, Minion now saw that Megamind had not been focusing upon his duties as a super villain at all. But, he had been engaging in something which Minion was sure that no super villain should be doing: dallying with his captive.

"This is about Miss Ritchi, isn't it?" demanded Minion, "You're going on a date with her."

Megamind's eyes seemed to widen with surprise that Minion had guessed his purpose so easily, but he quickly tried to cover it with a confidant laugh, as though Minion had just made an hysterical joke. "No, my main man, get out of town."

Megamind, for all that he might be genius, certainly isn't great at lying. I had even noticed during all the time that he kidnapped Roxanne; he seemed very apt to tell her in minute detail how his evil scheme would work in defeating Metro Man. I think that's part of the reason why he always lost: Roxanne would simply tell Metro Man what was in the works, and Metro Man would act accordingly. Dishonesty was yet another super villain trait that Megamind had not mastered.

And this time, it got him into trouble. Minion not only knew that his Master was lying; he also seemed to perceive what had happened. "Oh no, this is bad. You've fallen in love."

The words had finally been said. 56 and I knew that Megamind had fallen in love with Roxanne, Minion guessed it, but Megamind clearly hadn't been able to admit it to himself yet. Accused of it point blank, by his best friend, no less, seemed to have struck a nerve. Megamind lost the false, cheery bravado, and turned on Minion sharply. "You are forgetting your place, Minion. Now, give me the keys."

Before he snatch them from Minion, the robotic fish had super-extended his arms yet again, putting the keys well out of Megamind's reach. "What happens when Roxanne finds out who you really are?"

Megamind turned Minion, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "She will never find out," he said, as though it should have been the most obvious thing in the world, "That's the point of lying." He pushed a button on Minion's metal chest, and Minion's extended arm went as limp as a piece of overcooked spaghetti. As the limp writhed around on the ground, Megamind managed to snag the keys from Minion's fingers and headed towards the car, looking over his shoulder with a patronizing smile. "Honestly, if I didn't know any better, I would think that this was your first day of being evil."

Minion had heard enough. He quickly made the car invisible, causing Megamind to crash into it. This caused him to let go of the keys, which clattered onto the car's now invisible hood.

"This has gone far enough." Minion snatched up the keys and pushed them down into his tank, where Megamind couldn't get to them.

"Oh, that was really grown up." Said Megamind, as he made a lunge for the keys.

This proceeded into a chase around the invisible car, which might have struck the brain bots as being rather funny had it not been for the subject matter. You might perhaps be wondering why I haven't really recorded what we were thinking while this was going on. I haven't because, at the time, none of us knew how to react to what we were witnessing. By this point, the commotion had attracted the majority of the brain bots and we were now all watching, dumbstruck. We had never seen anything like this at all before. Sure, Megamind and Minion fought, but they always managed to make it up again. But this, this seemed to be something far worse. It was almost beyond our comprehension.

"Sir, please, it's for your own good."

"Oh, what do you know?" asked Megamind, in exasperation.

"I may not know much," said Minion, "But I do know this: the bad guy doesn't get the girl."

And then, Megamind said it. "Maybe I don't want to be the bad guy anymore!"

The brain bots all stared at him with open mouths and Minion let out a strangled scream of horror. A moment of shocked silence followed this admission. Megamind, perhaps feeling the awkwardness of the moment, but not willing to recant it either, said, "Well, you heard me."

"Who are you?" asked Minion, in an almost horrified whisper.

Megamind tried to come forward once again, demanding that Minion give him the keys, but Minion made the car visible once again, causing Megamind to bang into the car again. "My sole purpose in life is to look after you." he said, desperately.

Megamind managed to fight his way out of his cape, and unthinkingly, uttered one of the worst things he could. "Well, I don't need you to look after me."

The words might as well have been barbed. Even several of the brain bots, myself included, winced at the hurtful words. Our confusion was deepening? Megamind couldn't have said that, he never said things like that. He couldn't mean it.

Minion himself couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Wha-what are you saying? You don't need me."

"Let me make it clear." Said Megamind, coldly, "Code: I don't need you."

56 gasped. I gasped. We looked at each other. "Did he just say that?" said 56, who didn't seem to want to believe it.

"Yes, I think he did." I said.

"He's never acted this way before." said 56, who seemed almost as hurt as Minion, "He's always said that he can't make it without Minion. It's not right." 56 had idealized Daddy, more than the rest I think. I could tell that this was hard for him, because, as he told me later, for the first time, Megamind had let him down.

Minion's hurt was worse then than of 56. He had known Megamind the longest; he had been there for him when no one else had been. To hear that Megamind no longer needed him was the equivalent of his world ending. In a voice that was sharp with anger and hurt, he jettisoned the keys in Megamind's direction, and said, "You know what? Code: I'll just pack my thing and go."

"Code: fine." Said Megamind.

"Code: fine back." Retorted Minion, as he got onto a large motorized scooter, and began to make his way towards the exit.

"Hey, where's he going?" said 238.

"He's leaving, can't you see that?" said 56.

"But, but… he can't be leaving. He can't. Minion never leaves."

"Well, he is now." I said, "And there's nothing we can do."

And, there really was nothing we could do. We watched the last, bitter exchange between Megamind and Minion. "Well, good look on your date."

"I will."

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"I know."

After that, that door to the Lair slammed shut. All that was left was silence. I think all of the brain bots were reeling from something we couldn't indentify. What had just happened? Why had Minion left? Would he come back? Why had Daddy rejected him like that? None of us had any answers. I wasn't able to say why, but I was beginning to feel afraid. There had always been two people we could always trust to be there in our lives: Megamind and Minion. In the upheaval of the last few weeks, we had depended upon their presence even more. Megamind and Minion were more than just our Masters: they were family. And without family, how could we even hope for any sort of normalcy to return to life?

The foundation upon which we brain bots had built our lives seemed as though it were slowly crumbling away. Metro Man defeated, the emptiness of victory, the uncertainty of whether we were meant for good or bad, and now this. I had never felt so unsure. I didn't know what would happen next, but I just had a horrible feeling, that nothing good could come out of this.

Looking back, even I'm surprised at how right I turned out to be, and it was one instance where I think I would have been happy to be wrong. The night that Minion and Megamind separated would be only the beginning of far more sinister happenings. That was night that everything would begin to go downhill.

* * *

Please read and review.

Next chapter: As the brain bots try to come to terms with what they have witnessed between Megamind and Minion, 56 and 147 begin to realize that they don't want to be evil anymore. But what choice do they have when Megamind tastes the terrible bitterness of heartbreak? It's going to be up to 1 to tell them what their greatest purpose is meant to be.


	14. Fourteen

Warning: Very long, very sad chapter. Please read with some tissues handy.

Fourteen:

To go into a detailed account of the rest of the things that happened that night would begin to make this whole account a little long. Therefore, I will only try to tell what is essential. Besides, I'm sure that no one likes that part of the story where the guy and girl are close to breaking up. Even now, remembering what I saw that night between Megamind and Roxanne makes me feel more than a little sad.

Despite the fight that Megamind had with Minion, he still kept his date with Roxanne. I guess at that point, the relationship he had with her was more important than the one which he had with his best friend. After switching on the Bernard disguise, he left in the invisible car, leaving the Lair in silence, a silence which was more than a little uncomfortable for the brain bots. The place had never felt so empty and forlorn. It was perhaps more for the sake of getting out of there as much as curiosity that made me and 56 finally leave.

And we were curious. It was a facet of a lot of the brain bots, but this curiosity sprang from a much more morbid place. After the fall out with Minion, I suspected that Megamind's date with Roxanne wouldn't out so well. 56, I think, also thought the same, even if he didn't say as much to me. I think that we both knew that nothing good could from Megamind's behavior, and we just wanted to be sure that whatever happened, he would be all right.

However, in all the excitement, 56 had forgotten to get the address for the restaurant that Megamind had made reservations at, and so we ran into a bit of a snag right off the bat. "Why can't you find a simple French restaurant in this city?" I asked him, after we had pretty much circled the entirety of Metro City five times. "You're supposed to be Daddy's best seeker, aren't you?"

"Hey, do you know how many French restaurants there are in Metro City?" said 56, defensively, "Restaurants aren't exactly my specialty because we don't eat, so why should I keep a running tab on them all?"

"And, of course, you're not going to stop and ask for directions?"

"What am I supposed to do? Go up to a random stranger on the street and ask them where the restaurant would be? 147, in the first place, no one would be able to understand me, and in the second place, they would probably run as fast as they could in the other direction. We aren't exactly the most popular things in Metro City."

Before I could respond, there was suddenly a great boom of thunder and a flash of lightening across the sky. Having been so busy in our fruitless search and arguing, we hadn't noticed the thick black clouds which had covered the bright stars of the sky overhead. The next instant, rain began to fall, one of those rains which just seems to saturate everything in a mere few minutes, and never lets up.

"Great, now it's raining and we're getting all wet." I griped, "We'll probably get electrocuted or rust away to nothing and it will be all your fault."

"You know we're built especially so we won't be affected by rain. Would you quite being so melodramatic."

The chances might have been good that 56 and I would have kept on arguing the rest of the night, had it not been at that very moment, that we both caught sight of who we were looking for. Roxanne had just appeared around the corner, and the look on her face caused both of us to stop mid-argument and watch in slack-jawed amazement.

She looked so devastated, but so angry at the same time. There were trails of water down her face that did not come from the rain. She was hugging herself, shivering as the rain and cold wind crept through the thin material of her dress. As she walked along the sidewalk, the rain soaked the dehydrated cubes of garbage which Megamind had created in his efforts to clean up the city, so that her way was scattered with garbage.

We had never seen her like this; we had never dreamed that she even could feel such things. But, what had happened to make her feel like this? Our answer soon came when Roxanne was trying to cross the street and the loud sound of a motor zoomed up and came to a screeching halt in front of her. Out of seemingly thin air, Megamind appeared in front of Roxanne. Megamind himself, without the cover of Bernard to hide his face.

"I can explain." He said, desperately trying to get Roxanne to listen to him, but she was having none of it, and turned and began to stalk off.

"What happened?" I asked, "Why doesn't have the watch on? Surely, he couldn't have revealed himself tonight of all nights."

"He didn't." 56 and I nearly jumped out of our nano wiring when we heard 1's voice behind us. We both turned to see her floating there, looking grave and solemn. "By accident the disguise went off, in a restaurant filled with people, and Roxanne found out the truth in the worst way possible."

"Wait a minute, what are you doing out here?" asked 56.

"Do you think you are the only one with a vested interest in Megamind and Roxanne? I followed him tonight to make sure that no harm came to him after his fight with Minion. Unfortunately, the worst has happened."

"So, Roxanne knows everything?" I asked.

"I fear that she does, and she is understandably not happy about It." said 1.

Our leader brain bot was apparently right. As Roxanne walked away, Megamind tried to follow her, saying something about judging a book by its cover. But Roxanne turned around angrily and glared at Megamind accusingly. "Well, let's examine the contents for a moment, shall we? You _destroyed_ Metro Man, you took over the city and then, you actually got me to _care_ about you. Why are you so evil?"

Her every word caused Megamind to visibly wince, as though she were stabbing him repeatedly and he was helpless to do anything about it. All he could do was look at her with such despair and heartbreak that even Roxanne paused for a moment. She stared at Megamind, almost in dawning comprehension. "Wait a minute, I don't believe this. Did you think that I would _ever_ be with _you_?"

Megamind was silent, heartbreak and despair written plainly on his face. "No." It was only one word, but it sounded so final that it hurt. I think that Megamind was no longer in denial as to how deeply his feelings for Roxanne ran. He not only had fallen in love with her, he wanted her in his life. But, it was too late now; he had lost the one thing that could make his life complete, right when he realized how much he needed it.

Roxanne couldn't have known this however. All she could see was the man who had broken her heart, who had made her trust him, made her fall in love with him, with no good reason she could see other than for his own amusement. It did make sense in a way: Megamind had never really used Roxanne except as a means to further his own ends against Metro Man. Perhaps there had been some deeper feeling developing, but he hadn't wanted to admit to them, which amounts to pretty much the same thing.

Roxanne walked past him, leaving him alone in the rain swept street. He turned to look after her, looking as though he wanted desperately to call her back, but he didn't know how. And thinking no doubt that she wouldn't want to be with someone like him after all.

56 didn't seem to share those same sentiments. He may have been startled out of his hero-worshipping for Megamind, but that didn't mean he was still beyond being protective of him. He gave a low growl, and clacked his jaws together threateningly. "How can she just go off and leave him like that? How dare she! Why, I oughta-" He no doubt would have zoomed forward to give Roxanne a piece of his mind, which might have involved gnawing one of her hands off. Luckily, 1 caught him by a tendril just in time. "1, let me go. I have to teach Roxanne a lesson."

"You will do no such thing." Said 1, sternly, "This is not our fight, 56. We cannot help Megamind this time, he must face this himself. And besides, I highly doubt that now, when he is at his most vulnerable, he will be pleased to see us. Come along, you two, we need to get back to the Lair."

56, still griping, reluctantly followed 1, as did I. I also felt a deep sadness at the scene which I had witnessed. I had never seen Megamind look so heartbroken, so sad. It made me begin to wonder, would Megamind actually have been happier if he had told Roxanne the truth from the start? Perhaps Roxanne wouldn't have been anymore understanding, but at least this scene would have been avoided. But why had Roxanne rejected him? Was it because he was the villain, and villains, as Minion had said, were never supposed to get the girl? If that was the case, did that mean that villains could never be happy? But Megamind had been happy; I had seen it when he was with Roxanne. I knew that he was capable of loving. And he loved Roxanne, I was sure of it. But, there was one question above all which I didn't know how to answer: what had being the villain ever gotten Megamind? It never brought anything very lasting, of that I was beginning to be sure. Now that he had lost Roxanne, I couldn't help but wonder if being the villain he had once been would ever be enough again.

Sad, I turned one last time to look at the forlorn scene behind me: Megamind, head and cape drooping, walked off down the center of the street. He didn't look back. But, as Roxanne retreated, her posture and mood a haunting mirror of Megamind, I saw that she paused, stopped in her stride. She remained frozen that way, as if hesitating in her next move. She then turned and looked back one last time, perhaps wondering if he would do the same. I could see that the anger in her eyes had been replaced by sadness and disappointment. But she still looked back. Though it didn't come back to me for awhile, that one small gesture on the part of Roxanne made me hope that all was not, in fact, lost.

* * *

We arrived back at the Lair, sopping wet, but as 56 had pointed out, we weren't much damaged beyond that. While we were shaking off the water (yet another trait that we seem to share with canine species), 125 and 238 came over to meet us. "Well, how did the date go?" asked 238, without the usual enthusiasm that had once marked his questioning when we returned from one of our secret spying missions.

"It could have gone better." Said 56.

"Roxanne dumped Megamind." I said, a bit more bluntly.

"Oh, perfect." Said 238, "I'll bet that Daddy didn't take it too well."

"He's sort of wreck." Said 56, "Still, I'm hopeful that maybe the prospect of the battle tomorrow will cheer him up." 56's voice was filled with false optimism, and I'm not really sure even he believed what he said. "When did Minion get back?"

An uncomfortable silence greeted this question, as 125 and 238 looked at each other. "Minion didn't come back." Said 125, at last.

"What, but Minion always comes back."

"Well, has he ever left before?" asked 1, almost pointedly. None of us wanted to be the one to answer that question, because we all knew the answer. Things were not looking good.

At that moment, the sound of the door to the Lair opening broke the silence. We all hurried to the front of the Lair, along with a group of other brain bots. We saw Megamind in the doorway, still looking like his heart had been ripped out. "All right, Minion," he called out, after a moment, "You were right. I was… less right. We should stick to what we know: being bad." A deafening silence was all that answered him. There was no jolly reply from Minion's voice, no clanking of his footsteps as he came to greet him and tell him that everything would be all right. "Minion."

Megamind was, for the first time, truly alone. Well, not completely. He still had us. Even when the rest of the world had abandoned him, despite what any of us might have been feeling in our private hearts, our loyalty to Megamind never wavered. We all knew, somehow, that he needed us more than ever at that moment. Even if we were not sure what we could do, we still had to try. And so, as one, all of us hovered forward to offer our assistance to the one who had created us.

* * *

After all this had happened, Megamind seemed to want to take refuge in the only role which he had only ever been comfortable in: that of the villain. He prepared that night for the conflict with Titan with a manic energy which I found to be very disturbing. Megamind had always enjoyed his preparations for villainy, but this was different. He was fueled by his heartbreak, despair and sadness, not his former excitement and joy. Believe me, such a thing can make a huge difference. After awhile, all I wanted to do was get out of there.

But the biggest surprise of all came when Megamind handed out assignments for tomorrow's battle. I was one of the brain bots chosen to accompany him, along with 56, 238, and 1. For the first time, I felt no excitement, and I listened to his words with a sort of numbness which I couldn't banish no matter how hard I tried. For the first time, I didn't want to have any part of Megamind's plans.

At last, I managed to escape to the relative peace and quiet of the roof of the Lair. I settled down and just tried to think things through, which really didn't work all that well. My mind just kept going over the scenes and questions of the last few hours, and try as I might, I couldn't come up with an answer. Well, I did come up with an answer, just not one that I had ever considered before. The only answer that I came up with, the only one which would make everything better, was if Megamind weren't the villain anymore, and if we brain bots no longer served him as such. That might have been a simple answer in hindsight, but you try to come to terms with a life altering realization in a short span of time. Believe me, it isn't easy.

It was perhaps for the best that 56 and 1 showed up; I might have melted a few circuits with how hard I was working. "147, there you are. I was getting worried." Said 56, as he floated over me and touch my dome lightly with one of his tendriled claws. "Hey, what's the matter? Are you all right?"

It was rather useless trying to deny it. When brain bots got depressed, the spark goes out of our lives, quite literally. Our domes stop sparking with blue light and all of limbs, even our eyestalks start to droop. I showed all of the signs of a brain bot who was three steps shy of being diagnosed clinically depressed and in dire need of Prozac.

So, I really couldn't deny that there was something wrong with me, but how was I supposed to tell 56 what I had just realized? I mean, he was the biggest supporter of Daddy, and even if he had been going through some confusion about his behavior, just like all of us, I don't think he would have gone so far as to say that he didn't want to be the servant of an evil overlord anymore. "I really don't know how to tell you, 56."

"Come on, 147, you can tell me anything. You know that."

"I know, but this is different, like life-changing different."

"147, you want to break up with me? You can't do that, we've only been together a week."

"I am not breaking up with, you nut bucket. I am talking about something far more relevant. I just don't know if I have the words to say it."

"Than forget about him." said 1, as she came forward to nudge 56 out of the way, and took one of my tendrils in her own, in a very comforting sort of way. "Say it to me, 147. I will listen."

A moment of silence as I tried to gather my thoughts, and finally screwing my courage to the sticking place, I said, "I don't want to help Megamind tomorrow on his battle with Titan." Silence, not even a shocked gasp from 56, which I had half been expecting. 1 nodded to me encouragingly, so I went on, rather in a rush, "I mean, I'll still help him, because I know that he'll need me, but I don't want too. In fact, I don't want to do any of it anymore. I don't want things to go back to the way they were before; I want things to keep being as they have been. I like this better. I- I don't want to be evil anymore."

Yet more silence, and I couldn't help but feel a little awkward. That hadn't come out quite as gracefully as I had intended it, and I was sort of afraid they both might take it in the wrong context. Then, from behind me, 56 said the most unexpected thing, "You, too?"

I turned around and looked at him. "You mean, you don't want to be evil either?"

"I guess, no, I really don't. I know, I know, I'm always the one who is defending Megamind against all sorts of ridicule, but tonight, I think I realized for the first time that he is not infallible. You saw the way that he treated Minion, and he's been lying to Roxanne. I will always think of him as the best creator, but I've just been getting the feeling these past few months that being the villain is not something that he is cut out for."

"That's exactly what I've been feeling." I said, "Everything that has been good he's done in the past few months was for Roxanne, I know it is. And doing things like that for someone you love is not something that evil does. And I almost prefer the tasks that we have been doing to what we used to do as his minions. I like the feeling that I get from doing good things and making people happy."

"Yeah, so do I. In fact, I was almost a little sad when people didn't realize that it was us doing those good works, or that people may not have thought that we were capable of them. I actually think, that I prefer being good to being evil."

"Really, you do?" I said, feeling the happiest I had all evening, "I thought for sure if I even told you, you would think that I was some sort of weirdo."

"Well, you are a little weird, 147. But that's one of the things that I love about you. But you think you're a weirdo because you want to do good, now? No, I would never think that about you."

"So, you have realized it at last, have you?" said 1, who had regarded us through this whole confession with something that closely resembled satisfaction.

We both looked at her. "What do you mean?' asked 56.

"Can you not see it, 56? This is hardly a new development. I have always thought, in the very deepest parts of my nano wiring, that Megamind is not a villain, at least not a villain that could ever be very successful. In fact, I always thought that he had more the gift of heroism than villainy."

"You mean-you actually thought, for all these years, that somewhere behind all of Daddy's blustering about being the world's greatest super villain was a hero just waiting to emerge?" I asked, rather skeptically. I had seen the change in Daddy over the past couple of weeks, but whether or not I had seen the thing which 1 spoke of, I couldn't honestly say.

"Is that so hard to believe? Look at Megamind's track record: he has never killed anyone. He never harmed Roxanne. When he killed Metro Man, he was so startled that it actually worked, he wasn't sure how to react. And look at how he cares for us. To another super villain, we would be nothing more than a convenience, expendable, easily replaced. No one else but Megamind would care enough to bring us back, to build new bodies for us, when he could easily just build more mindless machines. No other Master would care what happened to us. Megamind knows us all, and he cares for all of us. None of these qualities are those of true evil."

Both 56 and I thought about this. "I guess that makes sense." Said 56, "But, what do we now? Megamind has his big debut battle with Titan tomorrow, and after what happened tonight with Roxanne, I don't think he think he has anything else except being evil."

1 shook her head. "I fear that the battle tomorrow will not go as Megamind hopes. I have been observing Titan, just as 125 and 238 have been doing. He is beyond any help, and he will never make a hero. How bad it will turn out I do not know, but soon, Megamind will realize his mistake and he will have to make a choice as to which path he will follow. Right now, I am sure that he thinks all hope is lost. However, he is partly to blame for how things worked out with Roxanne."

"But, you saw how it turned out, 1." Said 56, who was still apt to defined Daddy from any attack, "Roxanne is the one who abandoned him, she just walked off and left him in the rain."

"But she did look back." I pointed out.

"That's not the point." Retorted 56.

1, thankfully, interrupted us before it could go any further. "I will not deny that Roxanne might hold some blame, but what else could you expect from her? How could she have known that it was Megamind behind Bernard's disguise, the one who has been kidnapping her for years and then lied to her about his identity. Megamind did lie to Roxanne, and that is something you cannot do to someone you care about. Remember that in your relationship together: Lying only leads to broken hearts. I would hate to see either of you get hurt in the same way."

"She does have a point, 56." I said, "That's why she's the oldest. What about the others? Do they have any idea that this is going on?"

"I think that some of the older ones are experiencing the same change that you are, and some might have even been enjoying it. 125 and 238 actually had the same conversation with me earlier today. But the others, they are too young to fully understand. They only know what they can see or what Megamind tells them, they haven't grown enough to look beyond what is on the outside. They are confused and frightened; they don't know how to react. I fear that Megamind is not taking as close a care of them as he should, so I have to be there to guide them and tell them that everything will work out. That is enough for them to know, they don't need to know how it will turn out specifically, just that it will be all right."

"But will things work out all right?" asked 56.

"That is the one question I cannot answer definitely." Said 1, "I may be wiser than all of you, but my knowledge falls far short of telling the future. One thing I can say, we will need to be there for Megamind when trouble comes, as trouble I do not doubt will come. That's why I need both of you, and 238 to exert your best strengths tomorrow in the battle with Titan, no matter how it goes. We are all that he has now to lean on, and we cannot abandon him now."

We both nodded and promised that we would do our best tomorrow, regardless of how we ourselves might have been personally feeling about it. With that, 1 seemed to be satisfied, and saying that she would see us tomorrow, she began to leave us alone. But before she went back inside the Lair, 56 seemed to think of one last thing and called back to her, "Wait, 1, if you thought all along that Megamind was really more hero then villain, why have you helped _be_ one all these years?"

1 stopped and looked back at us, "For a very simple reason, 56: Megamind created us. We are his family. Families look out for each other, no matter what. That is what you do when you care for someone."

1's words would have a big impact on future events. But, 56 and I didn't know that at the time. We knew that something big was about to happen, but it would take the morning's light to show just what that was.

* * *

Now, we all feel very sorry for Megamind in the rain scene, but I do think that some writers try to portray it as though nothing about it is his fault. I mean, Megamind does knowingly lie to Roxanne, which is never a good thing to do. He did kind of have it coming to him. Still, we all know that it turns out all right, so hopefully any lingering depression in this chapter won't last very long. In the meantime, please read and review.

Next chapter: The debut battle between Megamind and Titan goes, well, not quite as planned. In the face of a new threat, 147 and her friends will be forced to aid Megamind and protect him from danger, while helping him to the path of his destiny.


	15. Fifteen

Fifteen:

The next day, in Metro City, the citizens would awake to something of a shock. Most of them had been lulled into a false sense of security over the past few weeks. Megamind had disappeared, he hadn't been terrorizing the city, and his manic, evil laughter had seemed to have been silenced. They had wanted to think that the Evil Overlord of Metro City had gone for good.

Well, they were wrong. No sooner had the morning rush hour started then the heavy rock music of AC/DC's Back 'n Black blared through the streets, and a giant robotic suit began to stamp its way through the city. Like a hulking Godzilla figure, it caused the citizens of Metro City to run screaming in fright. The police officers tried to combat the robot, but as most often happened, their best efforts were nothing short of useless. They only ended driving away from the robot, staying one step ahead of its banging footsteps, their sirens going full blast.

It was a typical scene, people running away in terror or standing on the sidelines, looking dumbstruck, the streets clearing out before us as people rushed to get out of the way (and find a good place with a view of the upcoming battle), the pageantry and the fanfare. It was as though nothing had changed, it was like the good old days.

Well, no, not quite. I don't really think that the four brain bots which Megamind had selected to take part in this grand affair were particularly enjoying themselves. See, Megamind had only brought us along as a failsafe device; he hadn't even intended for us to take part in the battle, only tag along in case he needed help. He was sure that he wouldn't need it, because even in the face of all the rejection he had faced the previous night (which could be argued was mostly his fault), the one thing he still thought he would never fail at was being the villain.

Megamind was clearly in his element. He was laughing his trademark evil laugh, and going out of his way to cause mischief and mayhem at every turn. But, for those of us who knew him (well, just the brain bots in this case), could have heard that there was something forced about it, as though he were an actor playing a part which he really wasn't all that into. None of us said anything, but we all sensed it, and that really worried us.

However, our Master still tried to give the grandest performance of his life. Once he had finished rampaging through downtown, he came to City Hall, the dome still painted an impudent blue. He activated the rockets which were under the robots feet and catapulted to the top of the dome, releasing fire works into the sky as he did so. "I hear there's a new hero who dares challenge my evil!" he shouted to denizens of Metro City, "Where is the one they call Titan?"

None of the onlookers would have been able to answer Megamind, because they obviously had no idea what he was talking about. Laughing manically, he jumped to the street below, the robot taking a stance of readiness, and in the shocked, awed silence that followed, he waited, and so did we. We waited, and waited, and waited, and then for a little change of pace, we waited some more. The hours passed, the crowds of onlookers, puzzled by this show of force from Megamind that really hadn't done anything to change his position drifted away, back to their lives. The hours lengthened, from morning into afternoon, and then into early evening. Through all that time, there was not even a glimpse of Titan.

At last, about seven hours of waiting later, 56 had at last had enough. "All right, what is going on here? Where is he? He's supposed to be here to fight Megamind. We haven't even so much as the twirl of a cape."

"Calm down, 56," I told him, "Maybe he made a mistake in scheduling."

"Well, no he couldn't have." Said 238, "He knew that the battle was today, or should have been this morning. 125 and I heard him discuss it with Megamind, when he was in disguise yesterday."

"Oh, then I guess there really is no excuse." I said.

"Right, just my point. Is this what we have suffered through the past twenty-four hours? Have we seen Daddy's heart broken and abandoned by all he holds dear, just for this to happen? There should be some kind of pay off, otherwise it's all for nothing."

1 had remained silent throughout this whole exchange, but now she said. "I don't think that this is a direct insult against Megamind, and I don't think that Titan forgot. My guess is, that when push comes to shove, Hal is simply too lazy to actually be a hero."

"So who's going to tell Megamind that?" I asked, "Because it really isn't going to be me."

"In his current state, I doubt that he would listen to anyone, except Minion." Said 1, "I do wish he were now. His presence might prevent Megamind from doing something rash."

"What do you mean, 1?" asked 56, "Daddy might be going through a hard patch, but he's not a fool. He's a professional; he knows what he's doing. What harm could he possibly encounter?"

Before 1 could respond, Megamind seemed to have finally lost patience with the non-presence of Titan. "This is embarrassing." We heard him mutter. With that, he heaved the robot to its feet and began to stomp through the streets of Metro City, kicking over a few trash cans in frustration. This did not stem from any malice, now he just wanted some sort of explanation.

"56," he called down to where the brain bots were, "Find that red and white spandexed hero before I have to tear apart the entire city looking for him."

"Will do." Said 56, "I might even have a few words with him myself."

"56, don't let Titan see you." 1 warned, "I don't want you getting hurt. That goes for all of you. We don't know what Titan might try." At the time, we really didn't know what 1 meant, but we soon would.

About twenty minutes later, 56 came back and reported to Megamind. We didn't hear everything that Megamind said in response, but he did not seem happy. He began spluttering in anger, launching accusations as Titan and the world of heroism in general. I'm pretty sure he also fired off a few curses, though they were in Chinese or Korean, or some other language which nobody else would have understood.

56 rejoined us, and I could tell that he looked more then a little uncomfortable. "So, where's Titan?" asked 238.

"You don't want to know, trust me." said 56, "It's a disgrace to everything that Daddy has worked for as a villain. It's an insult to all the time and effort that he's putting into his performance. It's like Titan isn't even putting any thought into this."

"56, what was he doing?" I asked.

"He was playing video games." 56 responded as though Titan were committing a most unspeakable crime.

"Video games?" said 238, in disbelief.

"Yes, and they're not even good video games. It looked like he was playing Pac Man or something, on a system that was from the stone ages. The graphics, the graphics were awful. And he's just sitting there, vegetating, totally unaware of where he's supposed to be or the obligation that he has. It's a disgrace, an insult, a slight, and a million other things that I don't even want to get into."

Needless to say, I think all of us were a little taken aback by Titan's behavior, even me. I mean, from what 125 and 238 were saying, he had been all eager to go out and engage Megamind in battle. I couldn't imagine what had changed in the past twenty-four hours to make him think differently.

Now, most people are aware of what happened after this. Megamind confronted Titan at his apartment, and there found out that not only did Titan not want to be a hero, he had only taken on the job to get a shot at Roxanne. But, she had rejected him. Not only had she rejected him, Titan had also seen her at the restaurant with another guy, namely Megamind in disguise as Bernard. After this revelation, Titan had decided that he didn't want to be the hero, after all, and had decided to become a full time villain. He had even started stealing things and stashing them in his apartment.

He was actually happy to see Megamind, even suggesting that they go into the business of villainy together (though he seemed to think that Megamind would be the sidekick to his awesomeness, which Megamind would never have gone along with in the first place, even if he hadn't been responsible for giving Hal his powers. Megamind may not have been much of a villain, but he never liked playing second fiddle to anyone).

Megamind had been appalled by what he had heard, and had rebuked Titan for using the powers he had been given for his own selfish designs. But Titan wouldn't listen, until Megamind, fed up with Titan's boasting, revealed the secret: not only was he the Space Dad, who had given Hal his powers, he was the one who was dating Roxanne. This sent Titan into a fury, and that's when everything started to go wrong.

Before long, Megamind and Titan were engaged in a battle, running and chasing each other through the city. Had everything gone as it should have, we brain bots might have been thrilled. But, there was something wrong. Before, when it had been Metro Man which Megamind was battling, there had always been this sort of sportive element to it, as though it were a game that both hero and villain took delight it. There was no intent to harm, however much Megamind might go on about he intended to destroy Metro Man. But Titan was not enjoying himself. Indeed, from what we saw of him, Titan was spitting mad, and seemed more intent on harming or even killing Megamind then sending him off to prison.

"He doesn't sound to happy." Said 56, as Megamind and Titan battled it out with two light poles which they had pulled up from the concrete.

"Yeah, I know. Not even a hint of witty banter from him." said 238, "Even Metro Man normally managed to fire off something at this point in the battles."

"Guys, this isn't right." I said, "Can't you tell? Titan is berserk, crazy, mental. You were right, 1, Hal isn't a hero. We have to do something to stop this, before Daddy gets hurt."

However, it was too late for us to do anything. No sooner had I spoken the words, then there was a great crunching, rattling sound, and the battle robot, having been hit one to many times by Titan, went careening into the side of a building and fell in a great smoking heap on the floor. Megamind had been defeated, again.

But it was only at this point that Megamind realized that he had made a terrible mistake. When Titan caught up with him, he made it clear very fast that he had no intention of carting Megamind safely off to jail, he wanted to kill him. I think, when Megamind heard this and saw the glowing red eyes of Titan's laser vision, he knew fear for the first time. So did we.

There was barely time for one last escape attempt. Minion, even if he had left, never left anything to chance. There was always a back up plan somewhere in Megamind's schemes, but he had never before had to use them, until now. Before we knew it, the four of us were air born and whizzing around in formation. We had all been given our orders on what to do in the case of an emergency, and regardless of what the circumstances were, we would obey. But it wasn't because that was how we had been programmed. For the firs time, we saw that Daddy was in terrible danger, and we would not let anything happen to him. Not the one who had created us, and given us life.

1 and 238 scooped Megamind up by the shoulders, carrying him away from the explosions which began to follow us everywhere we went. Apparently, Titan had figured that he could use his laser vision to blow things up, and he wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of his prey.

As the two of us flew slightly above Megamind and the others, dodging the flames and debris as best we could, I told 56, "This doesn't look good."

"No, I would have to agree with you. We had better bring in the big guns."

"The back-up plan you mean? But he hasn't given us the order yet."

"It doesn't look like it will matter. We have to think ahead, 147. Megamind's life depends on it."

The back up was a dome of copper, which would drain the powers of Titan. I had been assigned to carry it in dehydrated form. Quickly, the two of us managed to hydrate it back into its original form, and it turned out not a moment too soon.

One explosion suddenly came to close to 1 and 238. The shockwave forced them to let go of Megamind, who feel heavily to the pavement below. In the smoke of multiple fires, the menacing shadow of Titan appeared only a few paces from Megamind. Seeing him, Megamind hurriedly spoke into his wrist communicator, "Brain bots, Code: Send in the Backup."

Right on cue, we dropped the copper dome onto the advancing Titan, and for a few moments, it looked like everything was going to be all right. 56 even felt confidant enough to say, "Ha! Now how does that feel, Titan? I sure hope that Megamind gives him a taste of his own medicine when he gets those powers out of him."

"First, let's just get those powers out of him, so that he can be controlled." I said, "Then we can worry about personal vengeance."

But we had both spoken to soon, as did Megamind. Right in the middle of crowing, a long arm shot of the copper, shattering the metal as though it were wet tissue paper. 56 and I were startled, as was Megamind. "Hey, what's going on?" said 56, "That copper is supposed to be his weakness. It was supposed to drain his powers."

"Well, obviously it didn't." I said, and I couldn't help but remember that the whole notion of Metro Man's weakness being copper had always struck me as being somewhat implausible. Still, it wouldn't help matters to bring it up, so I didn't say anything. We probably had far more serious things to worry about.

I was right there. Titan was not only not weakened by the copper, he was able to pick up the entire dome and throw it in Megamind's direction. 56 and I experienced a brief moment of terror, but Megamind barely managed to get to safety in a nearby subway station.

Megamind might have been out of sight, but we could see that he was out of the thoughts of Titan. He would not rest until he had finished Megamind once and for all. But at that moment, some hapless bystanders were surrounding Titan, cheering and smiling, thinking that they had witnessed the hero who would save them from the grip of Megamind, at last. Even the Mayor came up to Titan with the intention of thanking him on behalf of the entire city for his brave stand. However, Titan effectively trounced those hopes, announcing that the city wasn't saved, merely under new management. He threw the Mayor away with a mere flick of his hand, then turned on the rest of the crowd surrounding him. "Come on," he challenged, as he flew towards them, his eyes starting to flare red, "whose next?"

I couldn't believe it. From what I could see, this, this, freak of nature was blaming the entire human race for everything that had happened to him in his life. Now that he had the power, he was going to take it out on all the citizens of Metro City. But that wasn't right. All of those people were innocent. Whatever problems Hal or Titan or whatever he called himself now were of his own making. And if he thought that I would just stand idly by and let him harm them, then he had another thing coming.

Before I could contemplate the utter stupidity of trying to stand up to Titan, I had flown down amidst the crowd, my blue dome sparking dangerously, and my jaws clacking together threateningly. True, I had rather grown to hate the image of the brain bots as Megamind's guard dogs that went about biting people just for the fun of it, but it was the only way that I could think of to scatter the crowd fast enough to get them out of the range of Titan's laser vision.

A little to my surprise, 56 also followed me. He told me later that he had been seized with the same feelings of righteous anger that I had. Only he took it one step into craziness and aimed for Titan himself. He buzzed around him like a wasp for several seconds, staying just out of the range of his laser vision. He distracted Titan just long enough so that I could get the crowd out of harm's way.

When Titan saw that there was no one else for him to hurt, he turned his murderous rage on the only things present that would satisfy him: us. "You," he said, "You creepy, little flying insects. I ought to crush you for being in league with that blueberry headed jerk you call Megamind."

"Boy is that what he calls threatening?" said 56, "It's pathetic. Absolutely no sense of poetry or rhythm. No panache at all."

"Are you caring about panache when he's trying to clobber us?" I said, "And if he's so inartistic, why are we backing away from him?"

It was true, 56 and I were backing away from him. And when he turned his laser vision on us, we turned and ran from him. He actually followed us, screaming all the horrible things that he was going to do to us. And, for the first time I think in any conflict, 56 and I felt fear. Why were we afraid? We had been in danger of being destroyed so many times by Metro Man, and in fact, we had been destroyed. It wasn't because we were afraid of death. We could always be brought back.

But, fear of physical pain is not actually the most powerful form of fear there is. Sometimes, the fear which comes from knowing that somehow you have earned the complete and utter hatred of someone, someone who has the power to kill you and make it look easy; hate is the most powerful form of fear there is. Because hate does not rest in its pursuit, and it will never give up. Titan had become the embodiment of illogical fury and hatred, and that was why we ran from him, that is why we feared him.

I don't know how long he pursued us, but eventually we were saved by a familiar voice. "56, 147, get over here, now!" It was 1. She had already ushered 238 in a makeshift hiding place in the wreckage of a nearby building. We hurried towards them, just managing to dodge Titan's murderous laser vision.

"1, what are we going to do?" asked 56, "We can't hide from Titan for long."

1 looked grave for a moment, but her next words were firm and decided. "You three, go after Megamind, help him in anyway, keep him safe. He normally would be able to take care of himself, but with Titan, he will be in even greater danger. You will be able to watch out for him better than he himself can. If you can, get back to the Lair, and inform the others of what happened."

"But, what about you, 1?" I asked.

"I'll give you a distraction so that you can get to the subway system."

"1, no, you can't do that." I said.

"Yeah, you can't put yourself in danger. You're our only leader now." Said 56.

"The others won't know what to do without you, especially now that Megamind and Minion are gone." Said 238.

"They're right." I said, desperately, "There has to be another option."

"We don't have an option and this isn't open for debate. Right now, we could be the only ones who can help Megamind find his true purpose. You have to understand, Megamind created this situation. Only he can reverse it. He will have to become the hero now. You have to help him see that. Now, as soon as Titan is out of sight, make a run for it. Find Megamind. Keep him safe, that is all that matters."

Before any of us could protest further, 1 exited the building. Titan saw her almost immediately and gave chase. For a moment, we stood frozen by shock and fear, uncertain by what we should do. But, then I shook myself and said, "Come on, guys. We have to do what she says."

The three of us crept out of the building and looked around cautiously. There was no sign of Titan, except for his voice shouting obscenities at 1 as he chased after her somewhere in the vicinity. We wouldn't be getting a better chance then this. So, we dashed to the subway system that had been smashed by the giant copper dome. There was still a few little openings that were just wide enough for us to squeeze through. No sooner were we through the opening, though, then we heard Titan's triumphant voice just outside the dome. "Ha! Got you a little flying spider. Now, I'll teach you for helping that blue freak of your loser master for humiliating me."

We heard the sickening sound of a brain bot being torn apart limb by limb, and part by part. It might not have meant anything to anyone else, but to us, it was the equivalent of hearing a person being torn apart. We were frozen once again by horror by that sound, and more by the fact that Titan seemed to be having the time of his life inflicting such unnecessary destruction upon a helpless bystander. That was something Metro Man had never done. Sure, he had destroyed us, but he had always done so in an efficient manner, without excessively or pointlessly making a show of it. We brain bots had accepted that, it was part of the game after all. And it kind of gave an extra edge to it. But Metro Man had never stooped to tear us apart with his bare hands. It was an idea that sickened all of us to the core. But what made it worse was that it was our leader who was being subjected to it, the one who the oldest of us all, cared for us and protected us. She was our parent, and she had sacrificed herself to keep us safe. That was something she had never been called on to do, but she still did it without thinking.

Say what you want about artificial intelligence; I don't think that a mother's love is something that can be programmed. 1 had not done what she had done because it was something that she had been programmed to do. She did it because she loved us, and would have done anything to protect us.

And that made it even more difficult for us to just sit there and do nothing, and yet, I knew that was what we had to do. When 56, enraged by what he was hearing, flew forward to try and engage Titan, I held him back. "56, no. we have to follow her last request. We're Megamind's only hope now."

So, burying our separate feeling of fear and anger, we prepared ourselves for one of the most dangerous assignments that we had ever been given: saving the life of our Master, Megamind.

* * *

Please read and review.

Next chapter: The brain bots help Megamind to find the one person who will be able to help him. After that, they are all shocked to discover that Metro Man is actually alive. But, Megamind has lost all of his will to fight. When he thinks that his life is meaningless, how will this affect the brain bots who have been with him through thick and thin for so long?


	16. Sixteen

Sixteen:

We had been demoralized by the destruction of 1. But 56, 238 and I were far from defeated. It was almost as if some of 1's strength and resolve had passed onto us. We were determined that we would make her proud of us, no matter what that entailed.

Our first order of business was to find our Master. It didn't take us long for us to find Megamind. The subway system was actually the best place for him to hide. The subways hadn't been operating since he had become the Evil Overlord. People were simply too petrified to use them, thinking that maybe Megamind had booby trapped them with bombs or some other terrible thing. Therefore, the tunnels were largely deserted, with no trains running.

He was huddled underneath one of the benches, trying to make himself invisible. That wasn't easy to do. Even in the dim light of the subway, his bright blue skin stood out like a sore thumb. He appeared to be frightened, but unhurt, which was one good thing that had come out of the day. We quickly hurried over to him, barking and sparking happily. He was just as relieved to see us. "147, 238, 56," he cried, joyfully when he saw us. He crawled out from under the bench and threw his arms around us. "You escaped! That's wonderful." He stopped abruptly, when he realized that there were only three of us. "1, where is she? What happened to her?"

The three of us looked down, beeping mournfully. "Did Titan get her?" We chirped an affirmative. Megamind didn't understand us word for word, but he was one of the few who could actually pick up on the gist of whatever we were saying with our noises. "He destroyed her?" We chirped again. Megamind's eyes grew dark. "That barbaric ignoramus! Who does he think he is? What right does he think he has to just destroy you? That was a totally unnecessary part of the routine today. Doesn't he have any idea how these things work?"

We flinched, because Megamind's voice had risen in pitch, and by the time he got to the end of it, he was shouting. Once the echoes of his tirade had died away, he realized just what he was saying. "Who am I fooling? That idiot Hal isn't a hero anymore then I am. He never was. No wonder he's acting this way. He was a rotten apple all along, and now that he actually has the power, he is going to use it to harm other people." He paused for a moment and his eyes filled with, guilt. That was an emotion we had never seen in him. Megamind never felt guilty about his actions as a villain, not when Metro Man was alive anyway. "Powers that I gave him. What have I done? This is all my fault. Now, Titan is loose, and who knows what else he will get up to? What if someone gets hurt or dies? I'll never be able to live with that."

I knew what Megamind was going through. I couldn't say that I blamed him for finally waking up to the realities of the situation. But honestly, I could also see that there was a risk of him plunging totally off course into a round of self-pity. I hadn't risked my dome that day to listen to that. What we needed now was action. I knew that Megamind would take action if he had some sort of idea. We had to get to him to see that.

"There's no way that he can solve this on his own." I said, "He needs help."

"He's got us." Said 56.

"Yes, but he might need a little bit more outside help. He needs advice from someone who understands him intimately. Someone like Minion."

"Yeah, but Minion's gone." Said 238, "And I don't think even 56 could find him in the time we have. We need to do something now."

Megamind could hear us whirring and clicking amongst ourselves, and even if he couldn't understand it all, he understood that we were brainstorming. Almost as if our example inspired him, he switched paths and began to do a little brain storming of his own. "Right, stay on course. Don't worry about past failures just yet; there will be time for that later. What can I do now to change the situation?" he thought very hard for a few seconds. "The copper didn't work, but the copper worked perfectly with Metro Man. I thought that would be Titan's weakness as well, since he and Metro Man had the same DNA. I need to understand how that went wrong; I need to know if Metro Man had any other weakness. Well, that will be difficult. I never was successful finding his weakness. But then again, if he did have a weakness why would he tell me? I was his rival. But perhaps he might have told it to someone that he trusted."

"But who would Megamind trust with a secret like that?" said 56.

"I don't know." I said, "For all that Metro Man was always showing off for the press, he was always careful about how his power actually worked. He never even told the reporters…" I suddenly stopped, as I got an idea. Of course, it was so simple that I wondered why it hadn't occurred to me before. "Wait a minute, that's it. Roxanne."

"Roxanne?" said 56, in confusion.

"Yes, don't you see? Metro Man might have opened up to her. She was probably his most trusted friend, after all, even if they weren't in a romantic relationship. You don't spend that much time with someone and not pick up a few secrets."

"Hey, you know, you're right, 147." Said 56, "Now, all we have to do is get Megamind to realize the same thing."

However, the thing about being created by a genius is that there is not much we could come up with that wouldn't occur to Megamind sooner or later. No sooner had I thought up Roxanne, then Megamind's eyes brightened. "Wait, Roxanne. Of course. She'll be able to help me." his face fell for an instant and he said, "But, after last night, she might not even talk to me anymore. I'm sure that she must hate me."

Surprisingly, 56 was the one who got up in Megamind's face, and began to scold him back to reality. "Look, Daddy, would you stop making difficulties and just do something already?"

"All right, all right, 56." Said Megamind, who got the message loud and clear.

Megamind, now fired with purpose, began to give us assignments, and for a moment, we saw a glimpse of the Megamind we knew so well. "56, can you go above and try to find Roxanne?"

That was asking a lot. Titan was still out there, and there was every chance that 56 could run into him again. And if that happened, 56 could meet the same fate as 1 had. Megamind knew this, but he also had to find Roxanne, and 56 was the best one for the job. But, 56 was willing to do it. "Well, far be it from me to turn down a chance to be a hero." He said, after a moment of decision.

Megamind beamed proudly, and patted 56 on the dome. "I knew that I could depend on you."

56 went off on his mission. We didn't hear anything from him for the rest of the night. It had already been close to sundown by the time that we had found Megamind. The three of us spent a rather tense night in the subways systems, but Megamind seemed to draw strength from our presence and we drew strength from his. When 56 finally returned it was to let us know that Roxanne was in her apartment. There were rumors around the city that something had happened, but the reports were so fragmented that no one really knew what had happened.

We brought Megamind through the tunnels of the subway system, until we came to the one which would lead to Roxanne's apartment. As Megamind disappeared into the apartment complex, the rest of us were left to wonder what more we could do to help Megamind in his hour of need. "If Megamind is going to ask Roxanne for help in finding out information about Metro Man," I said, "then they might need some reliable transportation."

"Roxanne's news studio is just around the corner." Said 56, "You and 238 could bring one of their news vans over here. They may not be the height of comfort, but at least you would get something that is sturdy and might not attract to much attention."

"And that's the last thing we want." Said 238, "We might have lost Titan by sticking to the underground routes, but he can fly and can cover a lot of ground. He also has X-Ray vision and will probably be able to spot Megamind's head a mile off."

"Meaning that wherever he goes while he is in the city, we should go along to make sure that he doesn't get hurt." Said 56, "Between the three of us we should hopefully be able to do that."

"One would hope," I said, "Come on, 238; let's go grab a news van. 56, you stay here and make sure that Titan doesn't show up."

"Right, 147. Be careful." This must have been serious. 56 wasn't even making any jokes about who put me in charge of this little operation. Then again, perhaps that was for the best. Besides, none of us were really in a great mood after the day's events.

238 and I hovered over to the news station. Big surprise, it was abandoned. Either everyone had gone home early, or they were cowering in the face of the tyranny that was spreading over Metro City. "We need to get a news van that has some sort of GPS." Said 238, "If Roxanne is taking Megamind some place, then we don't want them running into Titan before they get there. If 56 can keep an eye on Titan and show them the best route to avoid him. That would be best."

I agreed. The two of us managed to find a news van that had a passable GPS, picked it up and began carrying it back to the apartment building. We might have been small robots by human standards, but we were still stronger, and could carry many times our weight if we had to for considerable distances. So, it was no sweat carrying the van back to the apartment (not that it would have been in any case. Brain bots don't really sweat after all).

Once we got there, we were relieved to see Megamind and Roxanne just coming out of the building. I had been half worried that Megamind wouldn't have been able to convince Roxanne to help him after their fight last night. But, it appeared that even if she wasn't happy about it, she knew that Megamind wouldn't be asking for help unless something terrible was happening. "We're going to need a car." Roxanne was saying, "The place is way out of the city limits and-"

No sooner had she said the words, then the news van landed right in front of the two of them on the curb. Roxanne was taken completely surprised. Big, metal things falling in her path was clearly not an every day occurrence. For Megamind, though, it was all in a day's work. "Thank you, 56 and 238." Said Megamind, "I think that this will suit our needs quite well."

Roxanne looked at Megamind. "You know who they are just by looking at them?"

"Well, of course," said Megamind, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, "That one is 56, there's 147 and the last is 238. They all have their own personalities and functions. I created them to be self-thinking and self-motivated. The result is the perfect worker." He looked down, and his eyes flashed with something that looked likes sorrow. "I came out with four of them today, I lost one to Titan. I should never have brought them into this." I moved forward to nudge his arm comfortingly, just to show that we didn't blame him for what had happened.

Roxanne looked from Megamind, to us. "I never thought that you cared for them like that."

"Well, why shouldn't I? I made them; the least I can do is look out for them."

Roxanne apparently had no good answer for this. She began to talk, instead, about the time that Metro Man had taken her to his hideout. While that was going on, 238 and I heard 56 calling us from the back of the van. "Hey, guys, in here."

56 had already pried the doors of the van open and was settling himself inside. "I'm hooked up to the GPS, and I have an eye out for Titan. Nothing so far, but that could all change."

"I'll come with you." I said, as I joined him.

"What? 147, no, it's too dangerous."

"This whole day has been dangerous, but since when has that ever stopped us? I'm coming, so you have better get used to it."

"I don't think I could stand being in the same confined space with you for a long journey." Said 238, "One of us needs to go back to the hideout anyway, to tell the others what happened."

"I think I would prefer this journey to that task." Said 56, "Some of the younger ones might take it hard."

"Go easy on them, 238." I said, "Remember, 1 would want us older ones to look after them."

"I know. I'll be sure to do that." said 238, "Good luck, you guys."

He hovered away and 56 and I settled down for the trip. Roxanne and Megamind got into the van and we started off.

Roxanne drove us out of the city, into the countryside. Her destination seemed to be along the wide, sandy beaches that faced Metro City across the bay. From that distance, we were beginning to gain an idea of the extent of the damage that Titan was inflicting on the city. In only a few short hours, he seemed to be in the process of burning up the entire west side. It was mindless destruction, nothing like the fights which had taken place between Metro Man and Megamind. In fact, Megamind had never tried to cause more damage then was necessary in his rampages through the cities, and he had always made sure that it was localized. And he certainly had never though to drag innocent bystanders into it.

Roxanne and Megamind were pretty much silent throughout the ride. The tension in the air between them was palpable. I couldn't say I exactly blame them. After all, they had been through a traumatic event last night.

At last, Roxanne broke the silence with a question. "You gave him these powers; can't you just take them away?"

"I can't." said Megamind, despondently, "I lost my De-Fuser gun when I misplaced the invisible car. The night you dumped me. Alone. In the rain." He looked slightly pathetic when he was saying these words, and I thought that I could almost see Roxanne's eyes flash with something that looked almost like sympathy. I remembered the fact that she had looked back, and I couldn't help but hope that she still felt something for Megamind, and might be able to forgive him. "Did you ever look back?"

Of course it would have been silly to expect a woman scorned to forgive so easily, so soon. Therefore it was little surprise that Roxanne's face grew hard the next moment, and she spat out, "NO!"

She also happened to stomp on the breaks, causing the car to come to a sudden, bone-jarring stop. Megamind (who hadn't been wearing a seatbelt), went careening into the windshield. "Ahh, my giant blue head!" He cried, holding onto his head.

56 and I didn't fare much better. We ended up in a pile of limbs and domes amidst all the other equipment in the back of the news van. "Who gave Roxanne a driver's license?" griped 147, as we struggled to right ourselves.

"Well, it's partly Megamind's fault." I said, "He wasn't wearing a seatbelt."

Roxanne wasn't much for offering anything in the way of sympathy either. "Oops, I guess we're here." She said, in a rather annoyingly sweet tone. The subtext of 'don't wear your seatbelt; don't blame me for the consequences' was clear.

Nevertheless, Megamind managed to recover rather quickly, and climbed out of the van. Now that they were both of the van, 56 and I were able to sneak up a little, and watch them through the windshield. We saw that Roxanne had brought us to a wooden, red building that was standing all by itself on the windswept sand dunes by the water's side. On the front of the building, in faded white letters were the words, "Li'le Gifted Shool for Lit'le Gifted Kids."

"So, why did Roxanne bring us to an old abandoned school house?" I questioned, "That doesn't seem to make any sense."

"Actually, we're not seeing all of it." said 56, who being the seeker bot that he was, was equipped with X-Ray sensors that could see through walls almost as well as Metro Man could. "My sensors are picking up some sort of structure underneath it."

"Underneath it?" I asked, "Who would build a building underneath another one?"

"I don't know. Maybe this was meant to be some sort of hideout." Said 56, "Roxanne did say that she knew where Metro Man went when he wanted avoid all of the press and screaming fan girls that followed him all over the place. I guess this his secret lair. Heroes have them too, you know."

"Can you follow them?" I asked.

"I should be able to." 56 was also equipped with a holographic camera. Basically, he could take movies of what his sensors heard and picked up, and the picture was actually way better than most 3D movies. Anyway, he whirred and clicked for a moment, and then the hologram sprang up between us. Megamind and Roxanne were walking through a hallway, whose walls were lined with metal.

"You know, I really think that an apology is in order for tomorrow night." Said Roxanne.

"Well, yeah, I do think so." Said 56, "And it's about time that she figured it out."

I looked at him, slightly exasperated. "I don't think that was exactly what she meant."

"Well, Megamind is the one whose heart she broke yesterday, in the rain."

"Yes, and Megamind was the one who lied to her. Let's not forget that little fact? I mean, how do you think I would react if you lied to me."

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"That's beside the point."

"Well, what is the point?"

I paused, and then, said, "Oh forget it, I forgot the point myself. Can't we just focus on the matter at hand?"

We went back to listening to Megamind's response to Roxanne. "All right, that would be nice, but make it quick. We have far more pressing matters."

Roxanne gave up, making a noise of disbelief, perhaps thinking that all men, even those who were blue with big heads, were all the same. Megamind, totally unmindful of Roxanne's reactions, opened a large door which was at the other end of the hallway which he and Roxanne had traversed. When he opened it, he revealed a room that was dominated by the color scheme of white and gold. The walls were covered with posters and paintings of Metro Man, from his various stages of fighting crime, starting from the very beginning up to designs that looked as though they had been taken only a few days before his death. Also in the room were several glass cases of other Metro Man memorabilia, actions figures, boxes of cereal on which Metro Man's smiling face had appeared, magazine and comic book covers and other things. There were even Metro Man dish towels.

"Whoa!" said 56, as we took it in on the hologram, "It's like a mini museum in there."

"And this raises an obvious question: why is there so much stuff dedicated to Metro Man in this room and who would want it?"

"I have no idea. If this were an urban environment, I would say it was one of Metro Man's hyper teenager fans. But we're out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe this person is a crazy stalker, or maybe…" 56 trailed off and I saw that his sensor banks had begun to spin crazily, as though trying to figure out an unforeseen problem.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Uh, 147, there is someone else in there with them."

"What do you mean? Are they all right?"

"I don't think that they are in danger, but this doesn't make any sense. I'm running the DNA pattern through the specs, and the only one that I'm getting as a match is Metro Man."

"Metro Man? Come on, 56, that's not funny."

"It's true, I promise."

"But Metro Man is dead, we saw him die with our own eye stalks. So did Megamind, and Minion and Roxanne."

"Don't ask me. I'm just reporting what I'm picking up."

I don't think that even 56 believed what he was reading, and he had state of the art sensors. In fact, I think there is a good chance that neither of us would have believed, had it not been at that very moment, that Metro Man himself entered the hologram that we were watching. Sure, he looked a little different. His hair looked a little longer and he had grown a beard, but it was definitely him.

56 and I just stared at him in complete shock and disbelief. "He-He's alive, but how is that possible?" I said, "I mean, he died. He was burned to a crisp in the death ray."

"I don't know. Maybe we were mistaken."

We wouldn't have to wait long for our explanation. It didn't take long for Megamind and Roxanne to realize that Metro Man was standing right behind them. And they were understandably freaked out. Once the initial shock had passed, though, they did have a lot of question, Roxanne especially, I think. Metro Man, however, said that he would tell them everything. And since we were listening in, we heard everything too.

Apparently, when Metro Man had been confronted by the situation at the observatory, he had begun to realize just how pointless their continued battles had become. Megamind challenged, Metro Man defeated and rescued the damsel, Megamind escaped and the whole thing happened again. He had just begun to feel lost, like he had no real purpose in life. He had realized that he had never been given a choice about the path which his life would take. He had always been a hero because everyone expected him to be a hero. The one thing that everyone in the world seemed to have, a choice about the life which he wanted to pursue, had been denied to him. On the other hand, he knew that he couldn't just walk away either. So, he had gotten the brilliant idea to fake his death.

Mine and 56's suspicions had been correct. Copper, indeed, wasn't Metro Man's weakness. It had all been an act, and when the death ray had hit, Metro Man had escaped in the fiery explosion. The skeleton had been a prop from a nearby nursing school. And with that, he had said, Metro Man died, and Music Man was born.

Oh, yes, Music Man. that was his name now. He had been able to keep his logo that way, I guess. I still think to this day he could have come up with something a bit more creative. But, as Music Man, he had finally been free to get in touch with his true power: making awesome music. It's wasn't much of an awesome power, because to be quite frank, Music Man frankly sucks when it comes to making music (though, as of this writing, one of his albums has gone platinum. I really don't know how that is possible, but I was never one to deny that you humans have some pretty odd tastes when it comes to music).

So, that was what had happened to Metro Man. And I don't think that Roxanne was too pleased. She was downright angry, she even lobbed a guitar and a speaker at Metro Man, but they bounced off of him, totally harmless. When Megamind tried to ask for his help, Metro Man said that he was retired, and told Megamind that there was a yin for every yang, and if there was evil, good would rise up against it. "It's taken me a long time to find my calling." He said, "It's time that you find yours."

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking: Metro Man becomes a jerk at this point of the story, and he deserves no sympathy for shirking his responsibility. Well, I'm afraid that I can't deliver on that. I will admit that it might have been a little selfish of him to sit out the fight when he could have at least helped a little bit. But, I think that both 56 and I heard the same thing. Metro Man's situation really hadn't been any different from Megamind's when you think about it: he had been handed this role in life which he hadn't wanted to play. Perhaps there came a certain time when everyone has the right to choose their own destiny, regardless of what it might be. Granted, Metro Man was probably one of the worst singers that I had ever heard, but it seemed to make him happier than any of his fights with Megamind had made him.

Besides, 1 had said the other night that Megamind had more potential to be a hero then a villain. Now, it seemed that Metro Man saw the exact same thing. Perhaps he had seen it for awhile. It made me wonder if Megamind would ever see that.

It didn't seem like he would when he and Roxanne emerged from Metro Man's underground home. 56 and I sneaked out from the news van and watched them. "Hey, who needs him?" said Roxanne, after a moment, "We can take on Titan ourselves. I say that we go back to the Evil Lair, grab some ray guns, hold him sideways and just go all gangsta on him."

However, Megamind didn't seem to keen on the idea. On his face, was a look of defeat. It was not one that I had ever seen him wear. I could only imagine what he could be going through now. He no doubt thought that all his long years as a super villain had been reduced to nothing more than a joke. His destiny as a super villain was in shambles, and what could he possibly do to change that destiny when he didn't think he knew how to do anything else.

"We can't." He said, with a grim finality that was not a little disturbing.

"That's it, you're just giving up?" Roxanne questioned, in disbelief.

Megamind turned back to her, anger and hopelessness written plainly across his face. "I'm the bad guy," he said coldly, as he threw back Roxanne's words of judgment from the previous night back into her face, "I don't save the day, I don't fly off into the sunset, and I don't get the girl. I'm going home."

With that, Megamind turned and began to walk dejectedly away. "Where's he going?" asked 56.

"Didn't you hear him? He's going home. I guess that means he's going back to prison."

"But, that's the equivalent of giving up. Megamind doesn't give up. It's not in his nature. And if he goes back to prison, then that means, he'll be…" He paused, as if the idea were too terrible to give voice too, before mustering his courage and saying, "That means that he'll be leaving us."

I didn't respond, because there was nothing to say. 56 was right. Megamind was leaving us. I couldn't say that I blamed him, but it hurt just seeing walk away from everything that he had ever made, like us. It was like watching a parent just give up everything and walk away from their children. We brain bots may not have physical hearts, but we can still feel as deeply as any human on some matters. When Megamind walked away from all he had ever been or could be, it was the worst pain that I think I have ever felt.

"Come on, 56." I said, after a few moments, "He's gone back to his home. We should get back to ours; the others need to know what has happened."

Forlornly, 56 and I took off into the sky, hovering back to the Lair to inform the rest of our family what had happened, and that we were now on our own. In front of us, Metro City was in flames or wreathed in smoke, making it difficult to see anything. It was an apt metaphor for my mood. Things had never been this low or dismal in my existence. For the first time, I didn't know how things were going to turn out, or if there was still any reason to hope.

* * *

Please read and review.

Next chapter: In the darkest hour, the brain bots will learn the meaning of true evil, but also that even a bunch of seemingly mass-produced little robots can have what it takes to be heroes.


	17. Seventeen

Seventeen:

It was approaching sunset by the time that we returned to the Lair. We found that it was abuzz with nervous activity. 125 and 238 had told them the entire story. Some of them had trouble believing all of it, especially the younger ones. They were feeling confused, anxious and unsure. I couldn't say that I blamed them. It was hard enough for the older ones who had been reborn into different bodies. We, at least, had some idea of how things had gotten to this point, which helped a little bit in processing it. For those who were younger, it was hard to see how one thing had led to another. They felt as though their entire world of security had just crumpled underneath them, and they didn't know how they could function.

When we met 125 and 238, they both looked worried. "Hey guys, it's all over the news. Titan's gone crazy, he's destroying the city, I mean literally." Said 125, "He's not even showing any concern for pedestrians, in fact, he's even tried to deliberately attack more then a few people."

"Even the police can't stop him." said 238, "He just destroyed their cars with his laser visions, then goes after the policemen themselves. He's even been going after their families and loved ones. He says he'll hurt them if they don't leave him alone and let him do his thing."

"That's outrageous." Said 56, "Not even Megamind ever went that far. He always waited until the policemen were out of their cars and to a safe distance before he caused them to explode. And he would never have dreamt of harming the policemen's families. I mean, he know them all practically. It would be like going after the family of a good friend."

"But that's what Titan is doing." Said 238, "The younger ones are scared. We told them what happened to 1 (though we didn't go into detail), and they freaked. They started panicking. They think that Titan will find the Lair eventually and try to kill all of us. It took all of our skill and that of the older ones to get them to calm down."

"And it hasn't helped by the most recent report we've gotten." Said 125, "We've heard on the news that Megamind has turned himself into the police. He's in prison right now. But that can't be true. Megamind couldn't have abandoned us."

56 and I exchanged despairing looks. 238 and 125 looked at us, and they knew. "He has, hasn't he?" said 238, "He's gone."

56 nodded. "Yes, he is."

The implications were serious, not just for the four of us, but for all the brain bots. At this point, we were leaderless. There had always been Megamind or Minion to look out for us, and in the rare moments when neither of them was there, there had been 1 to take us under her wing. They had been the ones who told us that everything would be all right. Now, we had no one, we were alone.

However, despite that, all of the older brain bots realized that in the absence of anyone else, we had to take care of ourselves. Namely, that meant making sure that we all survived, and didn't fall into the hands of Titan. A hasty conference was set up with 56, myself, 238 and 125, along with a few others all trading ideas and opinions about what we should do.

"The first thing that you all need to now is that Titan is completely without mercy." I said, "We all saw him tear up 1 without breaking a sweat. If he were to find all of us in one place, he would destroy all of us one by one in ways that would grow increasingly cruel. Without Minion or Megamind to rebuild us and reprogram us, we might as well be dead."

"And there is no telling what he might do with some of Megamind's inventions." Said 785, a brain bot who specialized in helping Megamind build his machines of mayhem, and who was one of the go to experts for every single minute detail of them. "I've helped him build nearly all of them, and I can say that if they were to fall into the wrong hands, they would cause a lot of damage."

"Always assuming that Titan would be intelligent to actually figure out how to work them." pointed out 35.

"Yes, but a lot of them could cause a lot of damage just by being thrown around or exploded." Said 238.

"So, we have a double duty, to protect the young ones, as well as the rest of us, and keep Titan from finding the Evil Lair."

"As to protecting the young ones," said 125, "We can't tell them the whole story, they would simply stop functioning. You know how excitable some of them can be. It took 238 and me hours to just get them calmed down. If we tell them that Daddy is in prison, they might think it's just the normal state of things, and that will gain us a little time."

"We need to keep the young ones calm," agreed 35, in a rare show of solidarity, since she could be one of the most difficult of the brain bots when it came to cooperating, "We need every helping tendril in this crisis."

"You're right, 35." I said, "We are stronger if we stick together. From this point, I think it would be best if none of us leaves the Lair. The less we draw attention to ourselves the better."

"Don't you think that we could be going the wrong path with this?" said 56, who had remained largely silent throughout the meeting, "I mean, why can't we do something to try and fight Titan by ourselves?"

"56, are you insane?" said 35, reverting back to her more regular self, though I had to admit that I almost agreed with her, "We can't take on Titan by ourselves."

"Who says we can't?" challenged 56, "I mean, this guy has killed our leader, he forced Megamind to go into hiding, and now we're cowering in the face of him just like everyone else in Metro City? We should be doing something to help, not hide."

"56, do you have any idea what you're saying?" I said, "We can't do that."

"But you saw what he did." said 56.

"Yes, and so did you, which should be your first indication that it's not as simple as that. Titan is dangerous, and any move we make against him could very well lead him back here. We can't risk that, 56. This is bigger than any of us now. Anything we do could affect all of us, and we have to take that into account. Don't you see? We can't do anything, not yet."

56 looked as if he were about to object, but he seemed to see that he would be getting no support from the rest of the brain bots. So he sullenly nodded and went silent. I felt a little guilty and hoped that this little difference of opinion didn't spell doom for our relationship. But I still knew that I was right. Titan couldn't be defeated by just courage and blind audacity. Maybe that would be part of the ultimate solution, but only part of it. I wasn't really sure what the rest of that equation was, but I was pretty sure that 56 wasn't ready to hear the rest of it.

Eventually, we decided that the best thing to do would be to set up a perimeter around the building to keep an eye out for Titan. Another delegation would be set up to keep track of the news reports that were involving Titan, of which there was already a good deal. We needed to be aware of Titan's path of destruction. If he got to close to the warehouse district, we wanted to have advance warning, so we could put an evacuation into plan. Yes, we had an evacuation plan in case the Lair was ever breached. We all hoped that it wouldn't come to that, but we couldn't be sure.

I have to say, we all came together admirably in that dark hour. Even the more annoying brain bots like 35 proved that they had a role to play; without her organizational skills, it might have taken a lot longer to get everything up and running smoothly. It just goes to show you what can happen when you embrace differences and let everyone have a role to play.

However, there was only so much that preparing can do. After all the preparing, there is never a guarantee of when the attack will come. It's not the battle which is the worst part in some ways; it's the waiting for it to happen. And with everyone in place, all we could do was wait, and wait, and wait.

As you might expect, the night that passed between the finding of Metro Man alive and the one which dawned next was even tenser then the previous night had been. It was amazing how much the presence of Megamind could soothe us. Now, there was so much unknown and uncertain. What with Megamind in prison and Titan on a rampage, we were all understandably nervous about what the future held. More then anything, we missed the feeling that we had always had when we had all been first activated: the feeling that we were a part of a family.

Brain bots were all different and distinct, more so than what humans thought. However, there was one thing that we had all in common, and that was our fist memory: when we woke up for the first time, without memory or number, we had all seen Megamind's smiling face, we would hear his voice, and we knew without anything else that we could trust that voice and that face. We all knew from the beginning without being told that Megamind was our creator, our Daddy, and that he would always be there for us.

During those uncertain hours of the night and morning, I think that we would have given a lot if we just knew for certain that Daddy would come back to us.

But as morning became afternoon, we had nothing like that. Only news reports that Megamind was in prison, and that Titan was terrorizing the city on a scale never before seen in its history. Thousands had fled, and we saw helicopter shots of long lines of cars extending out of the city, fleeing from the terror. I think that a lot of Metro City would have taken an old battle with Megamind and Metro Man over this.

Eventually 56 came over to me. I had taken up refuge in a back corner of the Lair, since I couldn't bear to watch the city being burned to a crisp by Titan's laser vision. "Hey, there," he said. He too sounded a trifle subdued. We hadn't spoken since the meeting the previous day, so I was grateful that he was speaking to me still.

"Hey, yourself. "I said, not really having the energy or ambition to pursue the conversation any further. That was all right, though. With 56, I didn't really need to say a whole lot to speak volumes.

Without waiting for an invitation, 56 came and sat down beside me. We were quiet for a few minutes, before he said, "Sorry if I said the wrong thing yesterday. I was still upset from all that had happened. You were right; we really can't do anything against Titan. He would only crush us, or melt us or something like that."

"Thanks for that." I said, "But, just for the record, I think you're right too. We will have the chance to get back at Titan. Last night, the most important thing was just making sure that everyone was safe."

"Yeah, I understand that, now. It just took me a little while to accept it. But you were actually pretty impressive last night, the way that you took charge and directed everybody. I was really proud of you."

I would be lying if I said I didn't get an extra spark in my dome when he said that. Seriously, even the most unromantic can get a little thrill when they get a compliment from their boyfriend. It made the gloom of the last few days a little easier to bear.

But all that was about to change. Over at the banks of screens, were numerous brain bots that had been busy keeping track of Titan's movements all night. So far all that there had been was constant montages of the destruction which he had wrought. There had not yet been any word from Titan, not that there needed to be. After all, his intentions were pretty clear. Suddenly, however, all of the screens on all the stations blanked out followed a moment later by Titan's ugly mug all over the place.

"Megamind." He shouted, in a voice that was so full of venom and hatred that it made me flinch. The appearance of him came as something of a surprise to the younger brain bots and one of them inadvertently switched the channel.

"Wait, wait, go back." I shouted, as I hurried over, "We all have to hear this. Come on, guys, get to the screens."

All throughout the Lair, the brain bots crowded around the monitors, of which there were plenty. None of us missed a word of what passed next.

"You and I have some unfinished business." Said Titan.

"Boy, that guy is ugly." Said 617, a brain bot who was a bit on the younger side, and was clearly scared out of her mind.

"Quiet!" I shushed her urgently.

Titan continued his challenge on the screen. "I'll be waiting at Metro Tower, oh and just so you don't get cold feet."

What we saw next caused all of us to gasp in horror. There was Roxanne, balanced precariously on the thin spike at the top of Metro Tower. She was tied there with a piece of twisted metal. She appeared to be something that we had never seen in all the time that she had been kidnapped by Megamind: fear. Roxanne was afraid, and she had good reason to be. This was no mock battle, this was real. Titan clearly had murder on his mind, and he would have no scruple about killing the woman who had rejected him.

"Go on, Roxanne." he taunted, "Call your hero to come rescue you."

Roxanne, to her credit, did not grovel or beg for mercy. She didn't scream or cry. At that moment, she seemed to realize that this wasn't all about herself; all that mattered was that Megamind needed to finally see who he was. "Megamind, I don't even know if you're listening. But if you, you can't give up. The Megamind I knew would never have run from a fight, even if he knew he had absolutely no chance of winning, it was your best quality. You need to be that guy right now. The city needs you." She looked down, her eyes and voice becoming soft, as though she finally understood who Megamind had been to her all along. "I need you." In those three words was an apology which went beyond words. Roxanne had changed. I think that she finally saw the same truth as all of us: that Megamind was now our only hope, he needed to be the hero now. Now, it was all up to him to choose that destiny or not.

Titan, however, wouldn't be giving him much time to make up his mind. "You have one hour. Don't keep me waiting."

The screens went blank with static. We were all silent. There was nothing that could be said at once, for we had all just been the witness to something that we all knew we had never seen before. We had thought we had known what it meant to be a villain seeing as how we were supposedly owned by one. Only until now, did we see how very wrong that was. That day, for the first time, we brain bots finally saw the face of true evil.

But, just as we felt the cold chill of fear at the evil which Titan was going to do, we also felt something else. It was slow at first, a gradual awakening of what had always been there, but which we had not been able to fully realize until that moment. You know what they say? Courage becomes strongest when it seems all hope is lost. Well, it's true. We had seen evil, but we all suddenly realized that we could be strong enough to overcome it, or at least help to do so. We could be heroes to.

"We have to do something." I said, after a long moment of silence, "We have to help."

"Help?" said 617, in a frightened squeak, "After what we just saw? After what that monster did to 1? We can't do anything on our own, 147. You said so yourself."

"We are not going to do anything on our own," I said, as I flew into the center of Lair, and before long, all eyes were on me. "Listen to me, all of you, Megamind is going to come back, and when he does, we are going to be there to help him. He's going to be depending open us, just like he always has. And that makes us something more than just his helpers. We can do so much good, if we only set our minds to it. We can be heroes too. We all have it in us to fight evil, but we have always been strongest when we are together. Once Megamind comes back, we are going to show him and most of all, Titan, that he is not alone. Come on, guys, who's with me?"

Almost immediately, the entire warehouse erupted with barks and whistles. Yes, yes, we could do this, we had to do this. We would be heroes just like Megamind. But 617, who still seemed a little frightened, though she desperately wanted to believe me, said, "But, how do we know that Daddy will even come back?"

That seemed to stall the enthusiasm momentarily. None of the brain bots seemed able to forget that Megamind had, in fact, abandoned us. However, 56 floated forward to hover beside me, and after looking at me a moment, he said, "He will come back, and he will rescue Roxanne. And if we can start planning something for him right now, then that means he would have something to start on."

"But how can you be so sure?" said 617.

"Simple, 617." Said 56, as he looked at her and then at the rest of the brain bots who were gathered around. "We're his family, and families look out for each other, no matter what." He reached out a tendril and took one of my hooked claws in his. "That's what you do, when you care for someone."

I couldn't have been more grateful to 56 for his words. And they seemed to be all that the rest needed to hear. We began to plan at once, buzzing and whirring with excitement. We hadn't been like this for a long time, coming together to make something happen. And this was the first time that we had ever done it on our own. In some ways, just as Megamind's journey had led him here, so ours, after all those long years of assisting him, had come to this moment, too. It was pretty amazing, and one that we all still remember with pride. It taught all of us, that no matter how small, anyone, even a bunch of little brain bots, could be a hero.

* * *

Please read and review. I always liked this part of the movie. I think that Megamind's message as a movie is that anyone can be a hero. So, why not the brain bots? We are almost at the end, but I hope that you all enjoy my take on the last battle.

Next chapter: Megamind finally returns, and embraces his true destiny. With the help of the brain bots, he goes to battle with Titan, and the brain bots are right there with him, and their efforts will make a big difference in the battle to come.


	18. Eighteen

Eighteen:

Once we got ourselves going, we worked like a hive full of bees at the Lair. It was actually one of the first times that we had taken full advantage of our capacity for thinking creatively and acting independently. Before, Megamind had always been there to fill us in on his plans and what he wanted us to do. We had, of course, come up with things on our own, in our spare time. But never anything on a scale like this, where it would take all of our combined expertise to pull this off.

It also showed me, at least, just how fast Megamind's mind moved. I mean, he somehow managed to plan and coordinate all of his fiendish plots all by himself. Not only that, he had always seemed to have two or three at different stages in the works. It took a whole lot more of us working together to even come up with the start of a plan. I could only hope that it would be enough of a start for Megamind to build on.

This being the case, some of us are apparently better coming up with plans to defeat psycho super villains than others were. Most of the younger ones actually wanted to just be told when it came to the building and drilling, so it came down to the older ones who had came up with the plan.

"We need to go about this from a scientific view point," said 238, when we were gathering, "What do we know Titan? What are his weaknesses? What can we use against him?"

"If he's been infused with Metro Man's DNA," said 35, "then there isn't much chance that he will have a weakness that we can exploit. We all know that Metro Man was pretty much indestructible, and Titan doesn't even have that weakness to copper that Metro Man, so we can't use that."

56 and I looked at each other, but we didn't say anything. We hadn't yet told any of the others about the fact that Metro Man was actually alive. It wasn't like the information would have made much of a difference in the situation.

"You are right that Titan doesn't seem have too much of a physical weakness, 35." Said 125, "But, we've been watching him practice with Megamind, and we can honestly say that he is nothing like Metro Man accept for the fact that he is now loaded with all these powers and heightened strength. I mean, however much Metro Man might have been on as much of an ego trip as Daddy, at least he was a decent fellow for the most part. He never put anyone in danger."

"Yeah, Titan has none of the decency of a hero, even a stereotypical one. He's cocky and overconfident, and he is also a coward. Those are the weaknesses which we need to exploit somehow."

"I don't think that Titan is very afraid of Megamind," said 56, "and I don't think that he will be very apt to be afraid of him when he shows up to fight him."

"Then we're going to have to come up with some way to play on Titan's cockiness." I said, "Think about it, guys, what was it that made the populace of Metro City cower before Megamind for so long, even though he never hurt anyone?"

A moment of confused silence. "Okay, what was it?" asked 56.

"Honestly, you don't know?" I said, in exasperation, "its presentation. That was one of Megamind's greatest gifts. All those explosions, the fireworks and the strobe lights, it was those things that people remembered, and what made them afraid of him."

"That is true." said 56, "And whatever changes Megamind will have to make to his personal image when he becomes a hero, he will have to somehow fit in the idea of presentation."

"Yes, that's it, presentation." I said, "That's what separates super villains from ordinary run of the mill villains. I think that if Megamind can put on a convincing enough show, then he might be able to trick Titan into attacking him in a fit of anger. Not only is Titan a coward and overconfident, he's also not very smart and tends to act before he thinks, if he even thinks at all. In his anger, he could make a mistake."

"And assuming he makes a mistake," said 35, "then what happens?"

"Well, I hadn't quite worked that out yet." I admitted, even my planning for epic battles could only go so far. That was still Megamind's department.

Still, it was something of a start, and I was certain that Megamind could build on it somehow. In fact, I was fairly certain that he and Minion were driving over from the prison now throwing ideas back and forth off of each other.

We all began to put our planning and building into motion. We accomplished it a little quicker then Megamind did, but part of that was from the fact that all of us were working on this particular project together, we were using recycled materials, and since we were all connected by a common link, we could easily relay instructions to each other.

What we had come up with was we would wait until five minutes before Titan's time was up. That was cutting it a little close, but in order for this to work, the timing not only had to be precise, there also had to be some margin left for error. At the appointed time, a group of brain bots would activate and steer Megamind's blimp out to Metro City Tower, all accompanied by a rocking soundtrack. Megamind's voice would boom out from the speakers, in digital, high-definition surround sound. Hopefully, that would throw Titan somewhat through a loop and wouldn't make him realize where Megamind was really coming from.

Once that part had been established, a large group of brain bots would convene from all directions, coming together to form a giant picture of Megamind's head, right in front of Titan. They would be miming the words which he would say to Titan. Then, at the right moment, the brain bot rendition of Megamind's mouth would open, revealing the real Megamind in all his glory. That sounded like an epic entrance to all of us.

But it only got better. We were counting on Titan becoming so angry by this brilliant display, that he would fly straight at Megamind without any thought. But Megamind would drop through the mouth at the very last minute, landing on his hover bike which would be waiting for him. That would leave Titan trapped in the mouth. Though the chances were good that Titan would melt the brain bots in order to escape, the chances were good that that would take awhile. Hopefully, it would give Megamind enough of a chance to get Roxanne, and then get her to safety.

As I said, there really wasn't anything we could control beyond that, and there were certainly a lot of variables. However, it was a plan. So, we all got together and worked on it. We actually managed to bang out all of the details in record time, and once we were finished, we were all rather satisfied with out work.

"You think Megamind will be able to make some out of it?" 56 asked, once it was all finished.

I looked at him. "You're always the one who said that Megamind could make a victory, however theoretical, out of any situation, what do you think?"

"Of course he'll be able to make something of it." said 56, after only a moment's pause.

"But he has to get here soon." said 238, "There is precisely 26 minutes and 42 seconds left until Titan carries out his threat, and if…"

At that very moment, excited barks from those brain bots who had been assigned on lookout were heard, and a chorus of voices suddenly began from the younger brain bots. "He's back! He's back! Daddy's back! And Minion, Minion is back to. They're here, they're actually here!"

It was sort of like the last time that Megamind had come home from prison, that fateful day when this all had started. The invisible car came thundering into the Lair, and Megamind jumped out, in that awful orange prison uniform, and with a joyful smile on his face. I saw, from just one glance, that something about him had changed. There was a determination in his face which had not been there in his time as a villain. And behind that joyful smile in his eyes, there was a flame of purpose and responsibility. I knew, in that single look, that Megamind had become a hero.

Of course, immediately, all the other brain bots were in was just welcoming our creator and Master back where he really belonged, as well as Minion. Indeed, I think that Megamind's robotic sidekick got as warm a reception as he did. Our family had come back together, at last.

"Yes, yes, Daddy is back, for good this time." said Megamind, almost ecstatic, "And I won't be leaving you again, ever, I promise you."

"I think that we both may be responsible for that, sir." Said Minion. I would have agreed with them on that, but I didn't want to spoil the moment.

"I wish that we could spend more time on this reunion, my cankterous creations, but there is work to be done. Since we have last met, I have undergone a career change. I am now a hero, and I need to save Roxanne from that mad man Titan."

We all whirred and clicked at the news. "Oh, I see that you have been keeping track of the situation. Than I don't have to brief you. Titan is on the move, and we have to assemble our forces quickly. Minion, what's the time that we have?"

"At last count, twenty minutes, sir."

"Twenty minutes, twenty minutes. I normally am good at working under pressure, but even I have to admit that I might be more then challenged by this." Megamind was clearly working overtime trying to formulate some sort of plan, and the stress was getting to him. "Minion, how can I do this? How can I even come close to accomplishing what needs to be done?"

"Now, sir, there's need to panic. We already developed a plan on the way over here."

"Yes, the middle and ending of a plan, Minion. We still have to put together a beginning, or the rest will be over before it begins. We need to…."

At this, we all began barking and blinking our bright domes excitedly. We all simply couldn't wait to tell Megamind what we had done in his absence, that he didn't have to worry, he had us. "Sir, what are they trying to tell you?" asked Minion.

"I-I don't know, really. But it's something important." Turning his attention to all of us, he asked, "What is it that you want to show Daddy?"

I think that some of the younger ones would have picked Megamind up and carried him over to the place where he normally planned all of his schemes had we not stopped them. We had taken the time to draw up our plan in the same way that Megamind would, lots of colors and pictures all scrawled up in no particular order. It was far from perfect, but Megamind and Minion were able to tell at a glance what we were come up with.

"They've… They've already created something for you, sir." Said Minion, in apparent awe, "Look, they planned your entrance for you, exactly. They've even compensated for any unforeseen circumstances."

"Yes, yes, they have." Said Megamind, "They've planned my entrance perfectly. Why, I couldn't have done it better." He turned all of us, and the grin that stretched across his face was so big that it probably could have split his wide head in half. "You've done it, all of you. You have exceeded your programming in ways that I never even could have imagined. I know that I created you to be self-thinking and self-motivated, but not even I could have predicted that you all could have put together and built something this complex." He laughed and spread his arms wide, as though he would have liked to engulf all of us in a big hug. "I have always had so many reasons to be proud of you, but this makes me more proud than anything you have ever done before. Thank you, all of my brilliant brain bots, thank you."

Daddy couldn't have said many other things that would have made all of our blue domes glow and spark like crazy. Of course, any reason to make Daddy proud was appreciated, but this was more special than anything. We were just glad that Daddy found reason to approve of what we had done.

It probably wasn't the best idea for us all to descend in him in our appreciation. We were all just sort of carried away by the moment. Luckily, though we ended up dog-piling Megamind so that his limbs were failing in every direction, he was at least laughing. "Minion," he cried, "Help me before they crush me with their adoration of their dazzling creator."

"All right, all right." said Minion, as he walked through us, his metal body effectively pushing us gently but firmly off to the side, "Daddy is very proud of you, and if I may say so, so am I. But we have work to do. Come on, time is wasting."

Megamind finally regained his balance. Brushing off his clothes, he looked at us, with that same proud smile on his face. "Just look at them, Minion. They've become heroes in the same way we have."

However, before we could sally fourth to do battle with the villains of the world, there was still one thing which needed to be done. We still couldn't forget that there was one of our number missing, perhaps the most important one of us all. We may have proved that we could take care of ourselves. But we all still wanted 1 to be with us when we faced off against Titan. With her, Megamind and Minion, we would feel invincible.

So, 56 and I hurriedly brought one of the brain bots bodies over to Megamind (he always kept a few extra bodies in the workshop. As is pretty evident, brain bots can be constructed very quickly and easily, it's not until they are activated that they can start to develop their personalities.), chirping and barking our question to him. Of course, it wasn't that much of a question. Megamind immediately knew what we wanted him to do.

"Oh, 1, of course. We can't leave without her. I know how worried you all must have been about her." He took the body from us, and hurried over to the central computer. We all gathered around anxiously, even Minion. It might have been a little silly. Megamind did this all the time. Normally, it didn't bother us. But, this time, it just felt a little more crucial that 1 could come back along with all the rest of our family.

There was a hum and several beeps from the computer, as Megamind accessed 1's personality file and commenced the download. The next moment, the dome began to spark and crackle. The eye stalk switched on and off several times before it stayed on. 1 looked around at all of us gathered around her. It only took a few moments for her to realize what had happened. "I always knew that you had it in you." She said, in that same voice that we all knew and loved, and that had guided us through so many trials and tribulations. And there was something else there, a pride that mirrored that of Megamind and Minion. That meant more than anything else.

And so, we were finally ready, ready to embrace our destinies as heroes of Metro City.

* * *

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I have had a lot of things to do these past couple of weeks, plus I had a little bit of writer's block with this chapter. I hope that it was worth the wait, though. Please read and review.

Next chapter: The long awaited confrontation between Megamind, Minion and all the barin bots against the dim-witted Titan. Will they succeed or will they fail? (Maybe a stupid question, but I had to ask it simply for the sake of dramatics) Find out in the next exciting episode of Days in the Life of Brain Bot.


	19. Nineteen

Here it is, the final epic conflict between Megamind and Titan, through the eyes of the brain bots. This chapter was a bit of a challenge, because, except for the bit at the beginning og the battle, the brain bots really don't have much of a roll in the fight. So, I had to come up with some heroic things for them to do. I hope that you like it.

Nineteen:

So, it comes down the last battle. Everything that we had experienced had led us to this final, epic confrontation between Megamind and Titan. For the first time in our lives, we really had no idea how this would turn out. Megamind had superior brain power on his side, not to mention a full-fledged plan. But, Titan was himself the very thing that could send that plan careening off a cliff before it even got started. Sure, he wasn't very smart. But he was also unpredictable, vengeful, angry and was possessed of super powers that should never have been his. He wouldn't play by the rules, or show any mercy. Such things were dangerous and could mean that this didn't turn out the way that it was supposed to.

But, within that uncertainty, was also a strange kind of excitement. The very fact that there were so many unknowns in this battle meant that Megamind, Minion and we brain bots would have to think on our feet more than we ever had before. That meant that when victory was achieved, it would be all the sweeter.

At first everything, went perfectly. Our plan went into effect right on schedule; we were pulling up to the Metro Tower right when Titan had begun to destroy its foundations, intending to send Roxanne to a crushing death below. But, he never got that far. Because right when he was gloating to Roxanne about his victory, lasers and pounding music suddenly filled the air. In the air around Metro Tower, a great cloud of black smoke arose, and from that smoke emerged the Megamind blimp.

Megamind's voice filled the air. "You dare challenge Megamind?" Even here there was a difference from villain to hero. Megamind had always had a commanding voice, and he could fill a vast space with ease. But, it was what went into his voice that made people fear him. He had the ability to make his voice take on any emotion, and you instantly felt it. If he gave voice to evil sophistication, throwing off threats as though it were something he did every day, people cowered in fear. But, if he sought to intimidate another villain, that tone was more commanding, confidant and certain of victory. It was a great entrance, if I do say so myself.

Of course, the majesty of the moment was somewhat ruined by Titan's less than snappy response. "This town isn't big enough for two super villains."

I happened to be flying beside 56 when he said this. We both looked at each other, and rolled our eyes. This guy really was hopeless, not to mention unoriginal.

A great crowd of brain bots descended on Metro Tower, stopping its downward motion just in time. All of our carrier strength was needed in order to keep the tower steady. We wouldn't be able to hold forever, but we would certainly hold on for as long as necessary. Roxanne's life was literally hanging in the balance. She needed our help to survive and we were going to give it no matter what it cost us.

The brain bots all gathered together and created the form of Megamind's big head. I have to give the brain bots who were miming Daddy credit. They captured his snarky attitude and facial expressions to perfection.

"Oh, you're a villain all right," sneered Megamind's doppelganger head, "Just not a _super_ one."

"Yeah, what's the difference?" demanded Titan.

The representation of Megamind opened its mouth, and Megamind himself paraded down the brain bots that were making up his fake head's tongue. Megamind raised his arms, grandly and pronounced, "Presentation!"

Truer words had never been said. And it worked. Riled up by Megamind's easy taunting, Titan let out an angry yell and flew straight at Megamind, intent on ripping off his head. But Megamind dropped through the brain bots, and the mouth closed around Titan.

Though we had all enjoyed this little spectacle, once Megamind disappeared, we began to be aware of the fact that the tower was getting pretty heavy. But we had to hold on until Megamind showed up. The roar of the hover bike signaled the arrival of Megamind. He came to a stop right in front of Roxanne. Despite the somewhat precarious situation that she was in, she was smiling, and she was obviously relieved to see him. "I knew you'd come back."

"Well, that makes one of us." Said Megamind, grinning back at her. He took hold of the dehydration gun on his belt, and shot the metal pipe which was wrapped around Roxanne's waist. He caught her around the waist, and placed her in front of him on the bike. He then gunned the motor and he and Roxanne roared away from the tower.

It was a relief that he did so, because that tower was starting to get very heavy. We carriers might have been stronger then the average brain bot, but even we had limits. But just when I was about to give the order for the carriers to retreat, the giant head of Megamind began to literally burn from the inside out. Okay, that hadn't exactly been part of the plan. I had at least hoped that we would have a few more seconds before Titan's laser vision started seriously kicking in. Every second counted, especially for Megamind and Roxanne, they needed to get away, far, far, away. If they didn't, then the next part of the plan would almost certainly go haywire.

At the same time, I couldn't allow the rest of the brain bots carriers that I was in charge of to be put in harm's way if I could help it. "Everybody, move out!" I shouted to the rest, "Go, and get to your assigned positions."

They didn't need to be told twice, one by one, the brain bots started to let go of Metro Tower and fan out across the city, to their assigned positions. See, we weren't just in charge of getting Roxanne off the tower, Megamind had also appointed us all too different parts of the city, to keep the citizens from getting in the way of the main fight.

I waited until the very last possible moment, making sure that every last brain bot was off and running before I made my run, or rather tired too. I had been so intent on protecting the others that I hadn't realized my own predicament. The heat from Titan's laser power was overpowering, and I turned out to be closer to it then I thought. The heat had melted one of my tendrils, effectively gluing it to the Tower. I couldn't escape, no matter how much I wiggled and tugged. This wasn't good. There wasn't much that Titan could do to me that Megamind hopefully would be able to fix later, but still, I had hoped to be able to get in some more action.

Fortunately for me, I had a knight I shining armor looking out for me, or rather, a flying brain bot boyfriend known as 56. He came from out of nowhere, and hovered over me. "Hey there, 147, you need some help?"

"What does it look like to you?" I shot back.

"Looks like you've become a little too attached to this mission."

"Oh, that is such a bad pun; I will not even deign it with a response."

"You just did, actually. Hold still, I'll get you of there in no time."

He did it pretty effectively actually. Brain bot jaws are pretty strong, and they can bite through pretty much anything if you give us a chance. 56 opened his jaws and chomped down on the circuit that connected the tendril to my body. One nice thing about not being human is that we don't feel pain. For me, I was only out one tendril, but I had still had three perfectly functioning ones that I could put to use. "Thanks, 56. You might be good for something after all."

"I always thought that I was. Come on, 147, let's split. We still have to win this thing."

We flew away from the tower, just in time. Titan's laser vision succeeded in exploding away the brain bots that had been making up Megamind's giant head. All of the brain bots who had formed the head had known the risk. I felt very proud of them, and could only hope that they would be able to be brought back to life by Megamind when this was all over. They would certainly occupy a special place in the heroes of this day.

Titan, of course, didn't care about any of that. His eyes were burning red, and a look of blank rage was on his face. He what to kill someone, and the people that he was going to start with Roxanne and Megamind.

He flew down and caught Metro Tower, which had been in free fall. Taking it on his shoulders, he turned the hulking, monolith structure so that its sharp point was fixed on Roxanne and Megamind. That might not have been a problem, except that Megamind's hover bike picked this moment of all times to start going out on him. They were in severe danger of being skewered.

Unfortunately, at this point, the brain bots were out of the game. Megamind had assigned us to another mission, which now kicked in. No sooner had the point of the Metro Tower started its downward descent, then we heard 1's voice above the chaos, throwing out directions like an army sergeant and directing groups of brain bots to different parts of the city. Thanks to the systems that Megamind had programmed us with, we were able to project where the tower would go, what buildings might be effected, and most important of all, how best to get people out of harm's way. That was our job now: to make sure that the people of Metro City stayed out of the fight between Megamind and Titan. Megamind had been adamant that no one in the city would die under his watch as a hero, just as no one had during his reign as a villain.

56 and I zeroed on a group of citizens who were cowering in the lobby of a bank that, while not directly in line with the path that the Tower was taking, would definitely suffer some serious damage from the after shocks. We called a number of brain bots that were flying nearby, and flying in formation, we zoomed into the lobby.

The people were huddled in little groups. Hearing the noise outside, they had thought that they would be safe here, but if that wouldn't be the case for very much longer. The force of impact would very well send the wreckage of the building tumbling down on top of them. I think that they were a little freaked out to see us all come flying in, as they no doubt associated in their minds with the evil Megamind. Well, that was about to change.

Luckily, humans always seem to have an instinctive understanding in times of danger. They always seem to know who they can rely to get them out. Once we managed to show them that we were there to help, they readily responded, and came out in the formation that we directed them. In record time we got them all out, but just before we had gotten them all out, a woman suddenly began screaming, "Charlie! My Charlie! Is there!"

All sensors instantly on alert, the brain bots were scanning the doomed wreckage. 56, being the seeker bot that he was, found him quicker then any of the others. He zoomed in, and plucked the little boy up from the floor, and flew him out onto the safety of the pavement, and his mother.

Incredibly relieved, the mother hugged little Charlie, tears streaming down her face, too grateful for words. However, the boy, who was about four years old and quite unaware of the danger of his predicament, said, "That was fun, Mommy. Can I have one?"

It was only then that everybody seemed to realize that they had just been rescued by the infamous brain bots of Megamind. And looking up and down the street revealed that other groups of people were being ushered to safety by other groups of brain bots. They all looked at us, again, in apparent shock. We chirped reassuringly, and some of the citizens managed small smiles in their own turn. Perhaps, they were beginning to think, we brain bots weren't so bad after all.

After we had made sure that the citizens were safely out of harm's way, we flew back through the city. By this time, the Metro Tower had stopped its progression, but it had come at a heavy price. Nearly all of the buildings that it had come in contact with were destroyed, and as far as we could tell, there was no sign of Megamind or Roxanne. 56 and I managed to meet up with 125 and 238 a block from where the Tower needle had stopped. 125 was fitted out with a camera, as were several other brain bots, capturing the epic struggle on film for posterity. It was something that Megamind did for all his battles.

"Guys, what's going on?" asked 56, "What's happening? Where's Roxanne?"

"Oh, guys, it was epic." Said 125, "I caught the whole thing; you won't believe your eyes when you see it. Don't worry, Roxanne is safe. Minion managed to push her out of the hover bike just in time. He might have taken a beating. And Megamind's grand entrance deserves to be remembered in the manner of all great heroes, even if it was under a disguise. Come on, hurry up, let's go. He might need our help yet."

We hurried the little distance to the little plaza where the Tower had come to a grinding halt; it seemed, right into Megamind's chest. Or, so it appeared. See, it had been a trick all along. It was all part of the plan which had been thought up by Megamind and Minion independent of us. Minion had actually disguised himself as Megamind, in order to distract Titan. He actually had done a very fair impression of him, and to do that isn't easy.

But where had Megamind been in all of this? Why, if the guise of the greatest hero of all, of course, Metro Man. if there was anyone that Titan would have been afraid of, it was him. Now, Megamind/Metro Man was chasing Titan around and around the city, instilling in him the fear that he had been instilling in the city. There was nothing like poetic justice.

We flew down into the plaza. There wasn't much that we could do now that Megamind was flying the pants off of Titan, but we still needed to make sure that Minion was all right. His suit had been destroyed and he was gasping from the lack of water. We all hurried down to him, chirping in concern.

"Guys, it's all right." Minion managed to gasp out, reassuringly, "Though you might want to send some of the other brain bots out to the Lair to get my spare suit."

Chirping an affirmative, we relayed the information back to some of the other brain bots. We then got an update from brain bot 35, one of the other brain bots who was handling the recording of the action like 125. "Hey, everyone," she said, sending out an announcement to all of the brain bots. "Daddy has succeeded, he's sent Titan packing."

This made all of us very happy, and we all began to bark and chirp excitedly. Roxanne, who was standing nearby, scanning the skies for any sign of Megamind couldn't help but notice this. "What are they talking about?" She asked Minion.

"I'm guessing that Master must have defeated Megamind." Said Minion, "It's the only thing that would have made them so excited."

"You mean, he actually managed to win?" questioned Roxanne, in amazed relief, "Then where is he? Is he even all right? What if something's happened to him?"

Despite his somewhat dehydrated state, Minion managed a laugh. "Miss Ritchi, don't worry. I'm sure that Sir is perfectly all right, and he will be here any moment."

And no sooner had Minion spoken, but who should appear by the bright white wonder boy himself. He descended out of the skies, meeting Roxanne, who came up to him with a slight smirk on her face. The citizens, alerted by the fact that things weren't exploding and debris wasn't falling out of the skies any longer, had edged out of their hiding places, and were watching this scene with curious interest. They all thought that Metro Man was dead, so seeing him alive and doing the old hero must have been something of a surprise to them.

Megamind/Metro Man and Roxanne shared a long look, and then Roxanne, held out her hand, and gestured for him to give her the arm where the watch was held in place. It was time that the rest of Metro City saw Megamind for the hero he truly was, just as she had. After only a moment of hesitation, Megamind placed his hand gently in hers. Roxanne turned off the watch, revealing Megamind himself fitted out with a jetpack in order for him to fly like Metro Man.

The citizens all stood gaping in shock at the sight before them. There were several audible gaps, and it was evident that no one knew exactly what to think of this turn of events. No one seemed to know what to say.

Of course, the moment couldn't last. 56 suddenly began beeping a warning. "Um, guys, I'm picking up readings that resemble Metro Man. I think that Titan might be coming back."

"No way," said 125, "Not after the beating that Megamind gave him as Metro Man. And how could he ever have guessed the trick? I mean, he's so stupid. You must be mistaken."

No sooner had she said these words, then we all heard Titan's voice above us. "Nice try, Megamind. But I only know one person who calls this town Metrosity." Titan's ugly face and ridiculous bright white and red costume appeared right behind Megamind, the old rage back on his face, as he pointed an accusing finger at Megamind, "You!"

"Oh, crap." I said, "Here we go again."

Now that the deception had been revealed, Titan's cocky confidence had returned full force. This time, he was quite ready to beat Megamind until he was nothing more than a puddle of blue goo on the street. The instant that Titan appeared, our programmed orders to protect the citizenry kicked in and we began herding the people back to safety once more. This time, they were a lot quicker to respond to our movements. Clearly, they didn't seem to view us as quite so evil anymore.

That didn't mean that 56 and I kept a sharp on the proceedings, as did 125 and 238. Titan was tossing Megamind around like a sack of potatoes, and it seemed like our Daddy might come out on the short end of the deal. But, luckily, Roxanne also had sharp eyes, and she noticed something that could turn the tide of battle even quicker than we did. Her eyes were drawn to a glimmer of something in a side street and whispered, "The invisible car."

"The invisible car? Really?" said 56, "How was she able to locate it before I was?"

"I don't know, maybe you could take a few seeker lessons from her when this is all over." I said, "But that doesn't matter. If Megamind can get to the car, then he can get to the de-fuser gun."

"Which would take away Titan's powers." Finished 56, "We have to figure out a way to tell him."

But it turned out that Roxanne was already way ahead of us even there. "Hey," She called to Megamind, "You remember that night I dumped you?"

Megamind, who was trying desperately to stay ahead of Titan's laser vision with a crumbling jet pack, called back in exasperation. "You're bringing this up now?"

"Well, I did look back."

"See, told you she really liked him." I told 56.

"You did?" cried Megamind, forgetting fort a split second the peril he was in as obvious joy flashed in his eyes. "You did?"

"Yes, and you need to look back, right now."

Megamind got the message, looked behind him, and saw the invisible car. The next few minutes were a desperate race to get to the car before Titan killed him. And he almost did it. It took the jet pack being destroyed, Titan throwing him against a stone wall and Megamind crawling the last few feet to get there, but he never once gave up. He at last managed to disappear into the car. That threw Titan for a few seconds, but not for long. He ripped the door off the side of the car, and there he found Megamind, not in the car, but on the door itself. Megamind had fought himself into a corner, and even Titan with all his small smarts, knew it. With a victorious yell, he threw the door and Megamind up into the air, and since his throwing arm had been strengthened, this meant that Megamind probably ended up somewhere in the lower atmosphere before he began his descent to earth.

You know, at this point, a lot of other Masters and brain bots might have given up. This might have ended up in the annals as being Megamind's last great failure. But you know, if Megamind has any superpower beyond his amazing intellect, it would have to be his amazing ability to never give up. And let's face it, old habits die hard.

At the very moment when it seemed like Megamind was going to throw in the towel, he seemed to remember that he still had one weapon at his disposal that he could use: the dehydration gun. And it just so happened that the angle of his fall would land him in the fountain that stood in the middle of plaza, the very fountain that Titan was now chasing a very frightened Roxanne Ritchi too. And it was at this moment that his final plan took shape in his mind. He drew the dehydration gun and fired himself, turned into a small blue cube and began falling to earth even faster then he had before.

Titan had pushed Roxanne to the very limit of the fountain. Understandably, she was petrified of the red-eyed man who was floating towards her, clearly intent on killing her. He had destroyed Megamind, the one who he blamed for making a fool out of him, now it only seemed fitting that he destroy the woman that he blamed for setting him on the path of a villain, because she had rejected him. "Say, bye-bye Roxie." He growled, and would have turned on the laser vision, but then the small blue cube landed in the water between them.

It took only the work of a second for the water to do its thing. In that way, the laws of science on which Megamind based so many of his inventions are quite wonderful. There was a shower of sparks and Megamind appeared in all his glory. There might even have been a touch of the old wickedness in his smirk, as he caught the de-fuser gun and said, "Ollo."

Titan had no time to react. He might have had super-speed, laser vision and amazing strength, but he had nothing on Megamind's quick reflexes. Megamind stuck the de-fused gun in Titan's nose and pulled the button. Titan's body began to glow and spark, as did the indicator light on the de-fuser gun, as the powers which had been given to Titan accidently, were now slowly drained from him.

And at last, the powers were gone from him for good, and he was Hal Stewart once more, who looked even more absurd in his super-hero costume then he had when he had actually fit into it.

"The thing about bad guys," said Megamind, with a more than a little triumph, "They always lose." The only response that he got was an exhausted and slightly dazed groan from Hal. Yep, he was well and truly conquered now. The fight was over and Megamind had won.

Yes, Megamind had finally won something for the first time in his life. And it was a true victory this time, not an accidental or hollow victory, but one that actually meant something. And Roxanne seemed to know it as well. "You did it." She said, her eyes and face alight with pride and relief, pride in Megamind's accomplishments and relief that he was all right. "You won."

Megamind looked at her with a smile, a smile that showed the depth of his feelings for her. "I finally had a reason to win, you."

Roxanne's smile increased, and she threw her arms around Megamind neck. Megamind, after only a moment's hesitation, returned the embrace. It looked like he had come home at last.

"Oh, that's so romantic." Swooned 125, as she pretended to faint into 238's tendrils.

Both 56 and I rolled our eyes. Yes, it was very romantic, but it was hardly a cheesy reunion scene from a chick flick. This was real and genuine emotion. And unlike the grand climax of such a movie, the two of them didn't engage in a smooch; that might have been a bit too soon. However, their hug was interrupted by the sound of coughing and gasping. Megamind broke away from Roxanne. "Minion." He cried, as he hurried over to his friend.

"I can see. It's light and dark, and cold and warm." Muttered Minion, who hadn't seemed to hear Megamind.

"It's me, Minion." Said Megamind, gently, "I'm right here."

Minion's eyes finally came into focus. A weak smile came across his mouth. "We've had a lot of adventures together, you and I."

"We have, Minion."

Minion let loose another coughing fit, before finally managing to say. "I mean, most of them ended in horrible failures, but we won today, didn't we, sir?"

"Yes, Minion. We did it, thanks to you." That phrase alone showed that Megamind had come a long way. When he was a villain, he never would have credited Minion with anything but a small supporting role. Now, he seemed to recognize that without Minion, he wouldn't have gotten this far.

"Code: we're the good guys now." Said Minion.

"Code: I guess we are."

It was a touching moment between an alien and his best friend, a fish. Okay, put that way, I suppose it was also a little strange, but, hey, in this business, you take this what you can get. But, Minion suddenly began to gasp and cough, a shudder ran through his body, and then abruptly he fell over.

We all stared at the body of the fish who had been only second to Megamind in caring for us. If it this were a straight dramatic tragedy, I guess Minion's death would have necessary to lend an appropriate amount of solemnity to what otherwise might have been a triumphant finale. But, luckily, life isn't always a dramatic tragedy.

56 looked at us. "He's not really dead, you know. Minion can survive for at least fifteen minutes out of water, and the other brain bots will be here in just a few minutes with his spare suit. He's got time."

"Yeah, but why spoil the moment?" I said.

Megamind seemed to know the same thing. He picked up Minion's limp body, and without batting an eye, flipped into the nearby fountain. "What a drama queen." He said, as he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

At once, Minion appeared on the surface of the water, miraculously cured and said, "You know, I'm feeling a lot better. I guess I just needed a swim."

"Well, I think we can chalk this one up to a real success for Megamind." Said 238, "And all of it captured for posterity by your brilliant camera work, 125."

"And it will be the first of many." Said 125, "I'm going to have to start organizing a new section in the warehouse to hold them."

"But you're right." said 56, "This is the only the beginning of a new golden age for Metro City. They will no longer have to fear being overwhelmed by villains of any sort, be they strong in body or wits, for no one will ever be able to get the better of Megamind, the hero of Metro City."

I shook my head. "And you'll go on making those grandiose speeches, 56. I suppose that some things will never change."

"Oh, but 147, some things do change." Said 56, and then with a flourish, he grabbed me by the tendrils, dipped me and kissed me. Well, it may not have been a kiss in the traditional sense of the word; it was just a spark as our steel jaws met. Perhaps a human wouldn't enjoy it, but for me, I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It sent a small electric tingle right through me. For a first kiss, it was pretty nice.

"Hey, good idea." Said 238, who proceeded to mirror 56's action with 125, only with quite a bit more flowery phrasing.

"I never would have out you down for overt public displays of affection." I said.

"Yeah, well, you'd better get used to it." said 56, "Because I might be doing it a lot more."

"I could get used to that, I think."

We weren't the only ones who were feeling the romance in the air. Megamind had actually picked Roxanne up and was twirling her around, both of them laughing ecstatically at the fact that Megamind had won and that they had finally accepted that they were in love with each other. There happiness was contagious, as the citizens who had been gathered around to watch the final spectacle came forward to cheer and congratulate their new hero.

As soon as Megamind noticed them, though, he immediately drew his dehydration gun and waved it wildly at the approaching throng. "Get back, you savages!" He shouted, as the citizens took a step back in shock.

Luckily, Roxanne was there to defuse the situation. "Sorry, sorry, he's just not used to positive feedback."

"He really isn't." said 56, "This hero business is going to take a little getting used to."

"Perhaps, but I'm looking forward to seeing just what that means, with you."

And I guess you could say, it was in that moment, that a new life began, for all of us. I, for one, was ready for the adventure.

* * *

Please read and review. One last chapter to go, and this story will be done. Hope that you all have liked viewing Megamind from a slightly different prespective.

Next chapter: The story wraps up with a happy ending from everyone, including our favorite brain bot couple who are looking forward to a great new future.


	20. Twenty

Twenty:

So, there you have it. Megamind had won the fight, changed his reputation, and gotten the girl, all in one epic battle that would change his destiny forever. Of course, who is not to say that being a hero was his destiny all along? Then again, maybe he couldn't have been a hero without first being a villain. Or… well, I am not one for philosophizing. That's not in my programming or my interests.

Perhaps, it is best summed up in a way that Megamind himself said when he was musing on the events which made him a hero: destiny is not the path given to us, but the path we choose for ourselves.

Well, either way, Megamind was a villain no longer. And it showed. Over the next few weeks, he was busy reversing all the acts that he had committed against the people of Metro City while he was the Evil Overlord. He drew up plans to rebuild the buildings that Titan had destroyed (and also the ones that he had sort of defaced while he was the evil one); he fixed the roads, and cleaned up all the fire damage. As you might expect, Megamind couldn't be everywhere at once, not even since he was a hero, so he naturally had to call upon our expertise in order to get all the repairs and rebuilding done. That was a happy time, and a productive one. In fact, it was emotionally rewarding to all of us. Whoever would have thought that building and repairing things would be more fun then destroying them?

We were kept busy in our rounds of the city, and as we were doing so, we had a good opportunity to see just how much the attitude of the citizens was changing when it came to the blue, big-headed alien and subsequently his own creations. Instead of running in terror and shrieking when they saw us coming, the people actually began to look forward to it. They would pet our domes, and say that we were actually very hard workers. The children liked us most especially, and sometimes our work was interrupted by impromptu games of fetch, a weakness in many brain bots that was hard to overcome. And of course, if children liked something, it was easy enough to charm the adults.

It was great having an entire city shower us with affection and pride. Maybe it could be understandable why someone would take up a job as defender of a city. However, the best praise by far came from Megamind and Minion, who were quite proud of us. Megamind recovered from his injuries in the fight with Titan, and was soon his normal hyperactive self. And if that wasn't enough, not only did we not have a Daddy in Megamind, we also were beginning to get a Mommy is Roxanne. She became a regular fixture at the Lair, as she and Megamind began a serious relationship. Once she got used to us, Roxanne began to understand why Megamind and Minion loved us so much.

It was a triumph for Megamind in more ways then one. Not only did he have the praise and adulation which he had been waiting for all his life, but he also had gained something else: a true family that wouldn't be taken away from him.

And as if that wasn't enough, the best came about six weeks after Megamind had defeated Titan. The people in Metro City wanted to come up with a fitting tribute for their new hero. So, they decided to rebuild the ruins of what had once been the Metro Man Museum, and dubbed it to the Megamind Museum. All the brain bots thought that it was a much better use for such a majestic building, and the name was also much more poetic.

It just so happened that on the opening day for the museum, the brain bots were still working on putting the finishing touches on the last of the building projects for Metro City. I was directing a group of carrier bots who were carrying loads of concrete blocks and asphalt to different building sites around the city, when 56 flew up to me. "Hey, 147, glad I could catch you. Come on, the opening of the Megamind Museum is about to start. We've still got time to get a good view of the action."

"56, I have work to do. We're supposed to get all these building materials to places around Metro City by the end of the day."

"And the brain bots already know what they have to do because they were told by Megamind and you at least five times. Come on, 147, live a little. We're the heroes now; I'd say that it's time we were able to do a little celebrating on our own."

I looked at him, "You know, that is sort of a roundabout way of arguing."

"Yeah, so? It's always worked for me before. Why shouldn't it work for you?"

I sighed in defeat. 56 was sounding more like Megamind all the time. Even as a hero, I could tell that some things about that particular similarity would never change. But, you know, I didn't really want it to change. It was one of the things that I love about 56.

"You are going to be a bad influence on me." I told him.

"I certainly hope so." Said 56, eagerly, "Now, come on, let's go."

So, I allowed 56 to grab me by the tendril and we flew the little ways across Metro City to where the grand opening of the Museum was about to get under way. "Whoa!" I said, "Look at all the people who are here. It looks like even more of then what there was at the Metro Man opening."

"Hey, does that surprise you?" 56 said, "Metro Man was old, tired. Megamind is new and exciting and genuine."

"And comes in a fresh, clean scent." I finished, "As I say, let Megamind write his own speeches. If it were up to you, Daddy would come across more as a laundry detergent, than as a superhero."

"Well, okay, fine, if you're going to throw my self-esteem all over the pavement."

I laughed and patted him on the head with one of my tendrils. "Oh, cheer up, sweetheart. I still love you even if your grandiose speeches aren't as great as Megamind's."

"Boy, you sure now how to make a pre-programmed member of the male sex feel better."

We met up with 125 and 238 in front of the Museum, high overhead, where we undoubtedly had the best view of the proceedings. "Hey, 56," said 238, who was tendril in tendril with 238, "I see that you got a good date for today's events."

"I did, actually." Said 56, who sounded rather smug, "I think it's probably a tie as to which one of us got the best model."

"You know, I think that this could start a whole new thing with us." Said 125, "We could start a whole slew of double dates."

Though 56 and I didn't say it, the idea filled both of us with horror. 125 and 238 were so different from us that dates with them would be nothing short of an earful of romantic drivel and sugar. That was definitely not our style. Luckily, I was able to come up with an excuse that got us out of it, and was also quite logical. "You know, guys, this thing is so new for both of us, that maybe we should stay solo with each other. Plus, if we went with each other all the time, we would have to try and include other people in the conversation when really all we want to do on dates is stare into each other's eye stalks."

"That's very true." said 125, dreamily looking at 238, who was staring at her in much the same way. "I can't think of a better way to spend an evening."

"Neither can I." replied 238.

"Good save on that one, 147." Said 56, quietly, "If we can make those two think that we're as crazy and dewy in love with them as they are, they won't want to bother us at all."

"Sometimes it's good to know the way that the other side operates, because you can use their own tricks against them."

"Sounds like a good strategy for anyone, especially a hero."

We then turned our attention to the opening ceremonies of the Megamind Museum. Where Metro Man's statue had once stood between two massive granite buildings, a bright blue curtain had been raised, hiding the new statue from the view of the citizens below. In front of the curtain stood a large plaster wall which had been wheeled on by some workers. The white plaster bricks suddenly began to spark and pop, as the bluish white lightening consumed the stones, breaking them apart.

From out the smoke, came Megamind, sauntering out onto the stage as though he owned it (and let's face it, he did). "All right," he said, flipping his dehydration gun with his customary flourish "Put your hands in the air."

The crowd erupted into deafening cheers. People were waving their arms, jumping and down and clapping. They were wild with enthusiasm, and Megamind seemed to be reveling in the cheers. Then, he abruptly pointed his gun at the crowd and said in a menacing tone, "Now hand over your wallets."

The crowd immediately fell silent, and stared at Megamind in a rather fearful bewilderment. "Oh, come on, can't they see that he's not serious?" said 56.

"I think that they might have to get used to Megamind like this." I said.

Megamind, to his credit, didn't pursue the joke any further. He laughed, and said, "Just kidding, just kidding." This seemed to lighten up the crowd, and some of them even laughed along with Megamind. Perhaps it wasn't a lost cause after all.

As Megamind was waving at the crowds, Roxanne raced up the stairs and gave him a big hug. I think that was definitely one of the perks of being good that Megamind would really enjoy. She put a white cape around Megamind's shoulders, and told him with a grin, "You know, you look pretty good in white."

"He does, actually." Said 125, "It provides an iconic twist to his normally black entourage. There's some nice symbolism there. I'll have to look into that when we get back to the Lair. I think there could be some really cool cape ensembles to be made from that."

Both 56 and I looked at each other, but chose not to comment on that part. Besides, at that point, the bright, blue curtain which had been covering the space between the two buildings dropped, revealing a grand statue of Megamind, looking properly heroic and dashing. Standing in front of the statue was the giant battle suit which had been used by a villain to further his nefarious purposes, now it had been rebuilt by the hero as the ultimate party machine. Inside, was Minion, equipped with a brand new suit and a boom box. I think you can guess what would be playing in just a few seconds.

The crowd cheered at the image of their new hero, and so did we brain bots who were watching. It was one of the best moments of our lives, as we watched Daddy finally getting all the credit that he deserved.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," announced the Mayor, "Megamind, Defender of Metro City."

"You know," said 56, "I think that I could really get used to that name."

"I know." I said, "It does have a certain ring to it."

Apparently, Megamind thought so too. He shot Minion the signal and the boom box started blaring with rocking music. It wasn't long before everyone in the crows was dancing to the beat. Including Roxanne and Megamind, who looked the happiest of anyone there. Let's face it; they were the ones who the most reason to celebrate.

But, I think that we brain bots were a pretty close second. After all, as I've said before, without the help of the robots that he created, Megamind's task of going from super villain to super hero would have been a lot harder. And, out of it all, the brain bots had managed to become heroes as well. You don't strength or muscles to become a hero; you just need a little bit of courage, little bits of smarts, and a lot of heart. Fortunately, Megamind had all of those, and he had programmed them into us, and we were going to be there for him every step of the way.

It was a whole new adventure for Megamind, Incredibly handsome Heroic Genius and Master of All Good. Yep, that was his new title now, and I think that it fit him better than the old one. But, regardless of what title our Master thought up for himself, there was still one name that would never change: he was still and always would be, our Daddy, the one who had created us, and that we would always be there to help. Even as he started his new careers as a hero, it would still be just another day in the life of the brain bots who had been there for since the beginning.

You know, this seems like a pretty good place to end the story. As they say, all's well that ends well. This is brain bot #147 signing off.

* * *

And so, that brings to an end this little story. I hope that everyone has enjoyed loking at the world through the eyes of the brain bots. I might do something of a follow up for this story, doing Megamind and the Button of Doom from the POV of the brain bots, along with the occasional one shot if the mood takes me.

Thanks for everyone who has reviewed or favorited this story. It's thanks to you that I keep on coming back to genres like Megamind and putting up my ideas. I am now going to be focusing most of my own attention on First Contact, so the updates to that will hopefully be a little more regular. Again, thank you for everyone who has read this story.


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